Once again, John is in the spirit -1-10- and sees a great sign in heaven, but this one is also marvelous - meaning it is remarkable to behold. The distinguishing sign is that of seven angels having God's seven last plagues -calamities-. This sign has appeared to John as an indication of severe impending judgment that will complete God's wrath. Those who have come off victorious from the beast, his image and his number are seen standing before the throne -4-6-, singing a song of victory that describes God as being omnipotent and faithful. It is clearly expected that He should be feared and that He will be worshiped because He alone is holy, worthy of worship and righteous in all of His actions. At this time, the real temple in heaven is opened to reveal the seven angels with the seven last plagues coming out with seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God to be used to judge the remaining unbelievers on earth -see 16-1-21-. The temple fills with smoke -as in Isaiah 6-4- as God prepares to seriously deal with sin on earth.

In chapter 14-6-13 we begin a two part series of the five announcements that were presented by God's angels. Part one covers the first three of these messages, loudly declaring the truth to three condemned groups- -1- unbelievers in general- -2- Babylon the great- and -3- all worshipers of the beast. The first group, the earth's unbelievers, are commanded to be afraid of God, giving Him the glory and worship that He deserves. The second, Babylon the great, is pronounced as fallen into ruins, becoming desolate and uninhabited because she promoted immorality to the nations. The third, all worshipers of the beast -who receive his mark-, are warned that they will drink of the full wrath of God without mercy, being tormented with fire and brimstone forever and ever.

-PLEASE NOTE- Technical difficulties have delayed the submission of the autio-visual portion of this message. We hope to post them within the next few days.---This passage concludes the messages of Chapters 12 and 13 - Satan is not our king -12-, nor the antichrist to come -13-, but Jesus Christ alone is the true King of the earth -14-1-5-. Here we see Him taking His rightful position on Mount Zion, the City of David, as ruler of all. With Jesus Christ will be a special group of Jewish males, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes, who were initially sealed with His name on their foreheads -7-1-8-, and now are seen singing a new song. Having been purchased out of the earth by God as firstfruits, these 144,000 Jewish men are chaste virgins, faithful disciples, blood-bought offerings, reliable witnesses and unblemished believers.

After describing the beast -antichrist- that comes up out of the sea -from outside of Israel- in verses 1-11, John now presents another beast, who will come up out of the earth -the land of Israel- in verses 11-18. This second -wild animal- is called -the false prophet- -16-13- 19-20- 20-10-. He will speak like a dragon -Satan-, exercise all the authority of the first beast -antichrist- and cause the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. He will deceive people with great signs -even fire from heaven-, convince people to make an image -statue- to the antichrist and then give breath to the image, causing the statue to speak. He will force people to worship the beast, killing those who refuse. Finally, he will cause all peoples -small-great, rich-poor, free-slaves- to be given a mark -an impression on coins-stamp on documents-brand on horses-engraving on temples- on their right hand or forehead, which will allow only those with the visible mark to buy or to sell. This mark of honor is the name of the antichrist or the number of his name. Anyone with a mind is commanded to calculate -count-compute- the number of the beast.

Chapter 13 begins with a focus on -a beast coming up out of the sea- - a composite wild animal that represents the historic world empires over Israel -united under Roman rule-. Verse 3 changes the focus to -one of his heads- - an individual leader of one of those empires who will be killed, resurrect and cause the world to wonder after him. This man is also known in the Bible as the antichrist -1 John 2-18-, the man of lawlessness - son of destruction -2 Thess. 2-3-, the little horn -Dan. 7-8-, the lawless one -2 Thess. 2-8- and one who makes desolate -Dan. 9-27-. This leader will arise with the help of the dragon -Satan-, who will give him his power, his throne and his great authority. The world will worship him for three reasons- -1- his Satanic position- -2- his death and resurrection- and -3- his ability to war over believers. He will speak arrogant words and blasphemies against God, claiming he is God. Many believers will go into captivity and be killed, having opportunity to show their genuine perseverance and faith in Christ.

Chapter twelve continues by describing a future great war in heaven. This final angelic contest will be between Michael the archangel and his angels, battling the dragon -Satan, devil- and his angels. The dragon and his angels will not be strong enough, they will lose their access to heaven and will be forcefully thrown down to the earth. As the vicious accuser of believers loses his place in heaven, Christ prepares to take His rightful position as King of Kings. Though Satan's attacks have been ruthless and relentless, true believers will prevail -by life or by death- because of Christ's shed blood and their genuine profession of faith. The heavens will be able to rejoice over this victory, but the earth faces a great calamity - Satan has been given a brief opportunity to exercise his great wrath on earth.

Chapter twelve opens with a history lesson to give crucial background information to the book of Revelation. These great signs -significant proofs that draw special attention- focus on two entities - a woman, representing the nation of Israel, and a great red dragon, representing Satan as the leader of Israel's enemies. From Israel will come the promised Messiah who will redeem mankind and reign over a restored earth. From Satan will come severe opposition to God's plan through seven enemy nations and various attempts to eliminate God's King who will reign over those nations. God is actually the key player - setting up the nation of Israel, promising the Messiah through Israel, using the enemy nations and protecting the Messiah and the nation Israel.

The book of Revelation is an unveiling of the person of Jesus Christ - He alone is the focus. This prophecy was given to the disciple John as a vision, and bears witness -to all that he saw- -1-2-. It is understandable because a blessing is promised to anyone who reads, hears and heeds the things that are written in it -1-3- - God expects readers to understand and obey the message. Chapters 1-11 are more general, giving the big picture- a presentation of Christ's person -Ch. 1-, a preparation of His creation for His return -Chs. 2-7-, and a broad pouring out of His wrath -Chs. 8-11-. They reveal His position, power, promises, praise, people, protection, patience, prophets and preeminence. Later we will look at chapters 12-22 which provide specific details to more fully explain the persons and events shown in this first half of the book, but chapters 1-11 are critical for laying the basic groundwork to the message, and are a wider manifestation of Jesus Christ Himself.

The Day of the Lord concludes with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The tragedy of the final woe comes quickly because mankind would not repent of their sins and humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. The trumpet of the seventh angel sounds, declaring that the kingdom of this world has finally been turned over to the rightful heir, Jesus Christ, and He begins to rule. The triumph of Christ's reign is celebrated by the twenty-four elders as they fall on their faces and worship Him with an overflow of thanksgiving. And the trembling of all mankind is evident as Christ's judgment reveals the reward of the righteous and the destruction of the unrighteous - all true judgment proceeds out of the real temple in heaven, where Christ offered His blood once for all upon the mercy seat upon the ark of the covenant.

The Day of the Lord will continue, but the second part of chapter 11 gives us further background information, showing how the Lord's two witnesses are treated after prophesying. Their work with Israel being done, the beast -antichrist- comes back from the dead, makes war with God's two witnesses and is allowed to kill them. Their dead bodies are not permitted to be buried, but disgracefully lie upon a street in Jerusalem. People of all nationalities will gawk at them for 3 and a half days, greatly rejoicing and celebrating - they will even send gifts to one another because these two prophets had tormented them for 3 and a half years, and now it is over. But God brings them back to life, causing get fear for those watching, and then takes them up into heaven in full view of their enemies. In that same hour there was a great earthquake with severe damage in Jerusalem - seven thousand people die, causing the rest to become terrified and recognize that God did all these things.