In this lesson we look at Genesis 1-3 with the creation of the world, the start of humanity, and the fall of humanity. Then briefly went through the Bible and acknowledged that even though God gave the law and the prophets, the problem has been we all have a sin nature, which was why we needed a Savior, the Lord Jesus. Jesus was the Son of God, the Son of Man, and the Son of David, and even in John (20:28) He is declared God, so only He could pay the price for our sins by dying on the cross for us. The New Testament books tell us to love God and love others like the Old Testament books do. The New Testament tells us we are to obey God and keep His commandments, like the Old Testament does, but the difference is that believers in Christ, now have the Holy Spirit within us. Believers in Jesus are forgiven of their sin, and Jesus has taken care of the sin problem, so now we can obey the Lord. The prophetic book of the New Testament, Revelation, shows us a picture of when the Bride of Christ is complete, and we are all fully made perfect. The old things have passed away, and God has made everything new. There is no more death, mourning, crying, pain, curse, or shame. As the writer of Hebrews put it in 11:39-40, "These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with US would they be made perfect!" All because of Jesus!

The 21 Mega Voices in Revelation are found in 1:10, 5:2, 5:12, 6:10, 7:2, 7:10, 8:13, 10:3, 11:12, 12:10, 14:2, 14:7, 14:9, 14:15, 14:18, 16:1, 16:17, 18:2, 19:1, 19:17, and 21:3. Almost all are voices from heaven, starting with Jesus, to angels, to souls. Some are commands like, "Write on a scroll," and "Come up here!" Some are questions like, 'Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?" Some are declarations like, "It is done!" and then "It has fallen, has fallen, Babylon the Great has fallen!" some are words of praise, "Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God..." The last loud voice came from the throne and said, "Look! God's dwelling is with men, and He will lie with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will exist no longer; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away!" That message is worth a mega voice!

There are many things we may not fully understand about this passage, but there are some things that we can understand: 1) There is a war between good and evil. 2) The birth of her Son changed everything. 3) The serpent, AKA Satan and the devil, is not strong enough and loses. 4) The woman is protected by God in a place prepared by Him. 5) Satan is a deceiver, slanderer, liar, and accuser, the opposite of truth. 6) Satan's time is short, and he knows it. 7) There is persecution for the saints, and it may even lead to martyrdom. 8) Christ conquered Satan, and we can too if we confess our salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. 9) There is help for the saints when needed. 10) Those who are the offspring of God have two characteristics: they keep the Lord's commands, not because we HAVE to, but because we WANT to, and the Holy Spirit is within us to enable us to do it. The second is we have a testimony about Jesus, and what He has done in our lives. May we be encouraged that we too can overcome the evil one, and let us be challenged to be faithful until Christ comes again in all His glory, and then that serpent is crushed once for all.

In this book, Jesus Christ is revealed - the Revelation of Jesus Christ - no longer as a Babe in the manger, no longer as the Savior on the Cross, but as the triumphant King. 1:5-6 say, "and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve His God and Father - to Him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen." The reason Jesus came was because He loved us, and to set us free from our sins. He then loved us enough to take us out of our sin in order to make us a part of His kingdom, so that we can serve His Father and God, who becomes our Father and God. In the first five chapters of Revelation we see Jesus glorified, as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. There was only One person who was worthy to take the scroll, and that was Jesus, which was why chapter five ends with praise by the singing of a new song which says "You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom of priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth." We can be triumphant, because Jesus was triumphant. We, like the four living creatures and elders, should fall down and worship, for He alone is worthy.

In these three small letters from the apostle John, seven chapters in total, John used the word "love" thirty-nine times and "loved" four. He used the word "True" six times, and "truth," twenty times. For John, the truth is grounded on and in Jesus Christ and that He did come in the flesh, and he made it a point to share that believers should test the spirits of those who come proclaiming "the truth." Those whose teachings do not match up with Jesus' we are not to support, but those who follow the teachings of Christ and help others to know this truth, believers are to encourage and support. We also see a connection with truth and love. John says in verse one that he loves him "in love and truth." With the chosen lady in 2 John, he says, "whom I love in truth," and his blessing says, "Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father's Son, will be with us in truth and love." The truth is that God lavished His love on us through His Son Jesus, so that we can become a part of God's family (1 John 3:1). Then John continued by saying, "Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us, and His love is made complete in us" (1 John 4:12). There are many more verses on love, but the last one picked is 1 John 4:19, "We love because He first loved us."

Two words that were very important to the apostle John when writing this gospel were truth and true. He used true 20 times when Matthew, Mark and Luke only used it one time, and John used truth 27 times when Matthew and Luke only used it three and Luke five. The word truth comes to a climax when Pilate asks in 18:38, "What is truth?" The Jewish leaders brought Jesus to Pilate because they wanted Him to be crucified, because in Deut. 21:22-23 it says that anyone hung on a tree is cursed. Plus they had tried to stone Jesus two other times in John 8:59 and John 10:31-38 to no avail. When Jesus was before Pilate He admitted that He was a king from a kingdom of another place. Then in verse 37b Jesus admitted, "In fact, for this reason I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me." The truth is that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; therefore, we need a Savior and King, which is Christ the Lord. He was born so we could become a part of the kingdom of God who loves us and sent His Son to die on the cross for us. The question is, "Is Jesus your king?"

Jesus showed the disciples the "full extent of His love," by taking the form of a servant and washing their feet, then He told them, if you serve one another like I have shown you, you will be blessed. At first Peter refused, "No, you shall never wash my feet," but Jesus made it clear "Unless I wash you, you have no part of me." As usual for Peter then he said Jesus could then wash his feet, hands and head, but Jesus said that was not necessary, just the feet were dirty if one had bathed. Yet not everyone there was clean, for Judas Iscariot had planned on betraying Jesus. The amazing thing is that even though Jesus knew Judas would betray Him, He willingly washed his feet too. Who does that? Only Jesus! 

This passage in chapter 4 starts with the statement, "Now He (Jesus) had to go through Samaria!" He could have gone a different way, but God the Father had a meeting planned with a woman at Jacob's well. Now only was she a woman, but she was a Samaritan woman. Not only was she a Samaritan woman, but she was a social outcast even among her own people. When she came to the well, Jesus did not ignore her. He did not look down on her. He did not preach to her, instead He asked her for a drink of water. Jesus then turned the conversation from physical water to spiritual water which springs up to eternal life. She asked Jesus about where to worship, and He answered "How" to worship, and that is in Spirit and in truth. After she encountered Jesus, she ran into her town of Sychar, leaving her water jug behind, and told the town, "Come see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" They came, and Jesus stayed for two more days, and at the end they said, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." Jesus was not just the Savior of the Jews, but the Savior of the world, if we confess our sin and accept Jesus as our Savior. 

John the apostle was a fisherman before he followed Jesus as his disciple. The gospel of John, his three letters, and the only prophecy book of the NT, Revelation, were the last books of the Bible written. John's gospel does not start with the birth of Jesus on this earth, but it starts explaining that Jesus was before the creation, and that Jesus was the Creator. John only told of seven miracles or "signs," because they pointed to Christ. He also wrote the "I AM" sayings of Jesus which showed that Jesus was not just the Son of God, but God Himself in the flesh. When Jesus called John, he and his brother, immediately left their father's business and followed Jesus. John was one of the three inner circle of Jesus, with Peter and James, and Paul called John, Peter and James as pillars of the church. Plus, at Jesus' death, it was John who was given the responsibility of taking care of Mary, Jesus' mother. John chose to describe himself, "the disciple whom Jesus loved."

The writer of Hebrews explained that Jesus was better than the prophets, better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Joshua, and better than Aaron the high priest. The new covenant in Jesus is better than the old covenant, and better than the tabernacle. It confirms our salvation in Christ, and in Christ we are being made holy. The writer of Hebrews also explains why Christ came. He explained why God the Father sent the Son, the firstborn son, and that was so there could be more sons and daughters in the family of God. Jesus was both fully God and fully human, so that in his birth, life, suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension, He "became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him (4:9). 10:14, "Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy." So then, those people of the OT who lived by faith, and those in the NT and beyond who live by faith, will be a part of the family of God, and only together will we all be made perfect. That is why the writer of Hebrews encouraged those who profess to be Christians, to fix their eyes on Jesus, to not grow weary, and to not lose heart, because Jesus sat down with God the Father, and He will come again to make His family, and His eternal kingdom complete!