The Book of Revelation opens with the words, “The revelation
of Jesus Christ.” This is the divine title of the book. It is not the
“Revelation of St. John the Divine.” It is the Revelation of Jesus
Christ. Revelation in Greek is apokalupsis which means unveiling.
It can be used as in the taking away of a veil to reveal the face behind
it. Or as the drawing back of curtains to reveal what is hidden behind
them.
Thus in this context both ideas are true. For in verse 7 of
this first chapter we are informed:
“Look , he is coming with the clouds,
And every eye will see him,
Even those who pierced him.”
So in this future time, everyone will see the face of Jesus
Christ as he will be revealed from heaven. This book also provides us
with the prophecies of what will befall the earth and its people in the
near future. So it is revealing the hidden secrets that are known by
very few people today. Even most Christians are oblivious to the truths
revealed to us in this exciting book. Verse 3 says “Blessed are those
who read the words of this prophecy.” But judging by the response of
most Christians to this book, one would suppose it says, “Blessed are
those who do NOT read the words of this prophecy,” so openly is this
blessing rejected.
“ I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day and I heard behind me
a voice like a trumpet saying, “Write on a scroll what you see.” Rev
1:10
“The Lord’s day” has nothing to do with a day of the week.
Referring to Sunday as the Lord’s day only came into vogue many
centuries later. No, the Lord’s day is the same as the “day of the Lord”
and is one of the phrases used when talking of the Tribulation period or
the time of the Last Days.
This time is also called, the day of Jacob’s Trouble, the day
of Wrath, the day of Christ, the Great Tribulation, the day of Judgment.
So when John says he was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, he
means that he was spiritually taken into the future and shown certain
happenings pertaining to the End Times and he was to write these events
in a scroll. The day of the Lord is the day coming when God will do the
judging. Today, man does the judging (according to 1 Corinthians 4:1).
But there is a time fast approaching when God will do the judging and
that is the day of the Lord also called the day of Wrath.
As was already pointed out, the Book of Daniel parallels many
of the prophecies in the Apocalypse. That is, they both talk of many of
the same events and can be cross checked one with the other. In order to
establish that the day of Wrath is indeed speaking of the End Times, and
to assuage any who might argue otherwise, we go to Daniel chapter 8:19.
Here we quote the man, Gabriel, who is speaking to Daniel:
“He said: “I am going to tell you what will happen later in
the TIME OF WRATH, because the vision concerns the appointed TIME OF THE
END.”
This leaves us in no doubt that the time of wrath is equal to
the time of the end or End Times. We point this out because some contest
that when the Bible speaks of the coming Tribulation or day of Wrath, it
is not talking of the time of the Apocalypse but of some other
unspecified era.
But this cannot be the case for Christians have suffered
terrible times of torture and death by fire and sword from the earliest
of days right up to the present. Nero used have Christians covered in
pitch and tied to stakes and set on fire to provide light at his drunken
orgies. Unspeakable acts of torture were perpetrated by the Church of
Rome on believing Christians because of their faith in the infamous
Inquisitions. Even today, believers are dying at the hands of evil men
in places such as Nigeria, Sudan and Indonesia.
So when the scripture speaks of a coming day of Wrath or of a
Great Tribulation that is to befall the earth, it is speaking of a
specific time, so terrible are the events, that no other time has ever
been like this on the earth or ever will be.
Speaking of wrath, there are 3 distinct wraths spoken of in
Revelation. In chapter 6:16 we read:
“Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the
throne (God) and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of THEIR
wrath is come (God and the Lamb), and who can stand?”
“He (Jesus) treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of
God almighty.”
Rev 19:15
“Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea. For the
Devil is come down unto you having great wrath, because he knows he has
but a short time.”
Rev 12:12
These are some of the examples of wrath mentioned in
Revelation. We have the wrath of God; the wrath of the Lamb (Jesus), and
the wrath of the Devil.
In the very first article written in this series, I pointed
out how accurate the word of God is. I showed that if Jesus had gone
beyond a single comma, and read the next phrase, your Bible would fall
apart as it would have contradicted itself. We read in Hebrews 4 that
“the Word is sharper than any two-edged sword.” Time and again the Word
refers to itself as being the truth of God.
So the Word cannot contradict itself. The world will pass
away but not one jot or tittle will fail until all the Word is
fulfilled. Bearing this in mind and remembering that the time of the end
is also the time of wrath or the day of Wrath, we read what the apostle
Paul wrote concerning this time. Romans 5:9:
“Since we know have been justified by his blood, how much
more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him.” (NIV)
Paul reiterates this again in 1 Thessalonians 1:10
“And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the
dead-Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”
Should some say that Paul spoke of his own volition and we
should not pay much attention to him, let me remind you of what he wrote
in another Epistle:
“I want you to know brothers, that the gospel I preached is
not something man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I
taught it: rather, I received it BY REVELATION FROM JESUS CHRIST.” Gal
1:11,12
It is patently evident from reading through the Book of
Revelation, that the Christians in that time will suffer terribly. They
will be hunted down and beheaded and murdered because of their refusal
to take the mark of the Beast and because of their faith in Jesus.
Countless multitudes are spoken of that will suffer in this way.
But the Church of God is not involved in the Tribulation. We
are saved from the coming wrath because we are assured by Paul that the
Church will be gathered together and caught up to meet the Lord in the
air before the day of the Lord begins. Wherefore comfort one another
with these words.
The Word cannot contradict itself. When Paul says we are
saved from the wrath to come, or Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath,
he is speaking on behalf of Jesus. For he wrote the Church Epistles by
revelation from Jesus himself.
So when we read, “we are saved from God’s wrath,” it is as if
Jesus himself is giving us this promise. And I can only surmise that for
those of you who doubt these words, Jesus may have used a modern day
phrase to emphasise what he is saying, namely;
“READ MY LIPS…YOU ARE SAVED FROM THE COMING WRATH.”
As we have seen, there are 3 wraths coming in the Apocalypse.
God’s wrath, the Lamb’s wrath and the wrath of the Devil. So take your
pick. One way or another, we are saved from the coming wrath. Jesus
either spoke the truth or he lied. This is plain to read and easy to
understand with a cursory reading of Thessalonians.
Some in Thessalonica were teaching that the day of the Lord
had already begun. They did this because of the ferocious persecutions
against the Christians at that time by the Romans and the Jewish
hierarchy. Paul wrote 2 Thessalonians 2 to allay their fears and assure
them that the day of the Lord could not come until there first came a
“falling away” or departure, and only then would the man of sin be
revealed. ( For a fuller explanation of this topic, please see my essay
with the unfortunate title, “Apostasy? Apostasy?…We Don’t Need No
Stinkin’ Apostasy,” at my column at www.raidersnewsnetwork.com).
Having explained to the saints in Thessalonica that the
Church would be gathered together and be taken to be with Jesus in
heaven, Paul goes on in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 to tell the brethren:
“But of the times and the seasons brethren, ye have no need
that I write unto you.”
Why “no need?” Because Paul had just told them in the
previous chapter that they would be caught away to meet the Lord in the
air.
“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so
comes as a thief in the night.”
It is the “day of the Lord” or the Apocalypse, which is going
to come as a thief in the night. But watch the sudden change of pronouns
in the latter verses.
“For when THEY shall say, “peace and safety,” then sudden
destruction cometh upon THEM…and THEY shall not escape.”
“But YE brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should
overtake YOU as a thief.”
We know what is coming for we have been repeatedly told so in
the Church Epistles which are addressed to us. We know what the signs of
the coming Apocalypse are because they have been revealed to those of us
who have the Spirit of God in us. We are not in darkness because we have
the light of Jesus.
But THEY… those who are not born from above and who are in
darkness, THEY shall not escape. We, the believers or saved of God, we
shall escape because we are rescued from the wrath to come.
Therefore the day of the Lord or the day of Wrath will come
upon those who do not believe, like a thief in the night.
Here, our point is distinctly, emphatically and categorically
stated, with a precision and explicitness which leaves nothing to be
added. Can anything be more clear than the fact that the Church of God
is not the subject of the Apocalypse?