Revelation

"The spirit and the bride say ‘Come!’ and let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

We all like free gifts and for this, some may say it’s too good to be true but that’s how much God loves us. He wants everyone to come to him because he created us. He hates when he sees us going astray. This is the free gift of eternal life in heaven with God. All you must do is follow him wholeheartedly. There is no scam, but you have to believe and have that faith that the free gift is true. We are all thirsty and hungry for happiness and peace yet everything, but God seems to be the better solution even though it will never be satisfactory. We all crave to have something that will please us but why not make the change to go beyond yourself and please your creator? Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Our God can do anything, and we are his children. Let this be what we share to others, so they don’t miss out of this free gift that God has given.

"Then he told me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.’”

Now, we cannot deny that we have read the words of the prophecy. All these warnings of the future that will come true. People will do wrong, but we cannot make them change. Only God can if they open the door for him. We can share this warning with everyone though so that everyone will know the prophecy and what’s to come. Whether they believe it or not, that’s up to them. Whether they change their evil ways to repent or continue their sinful life, that’s up to them. We are just the messenger that points to God. For us, we have to remain doing what’s right, staying humble and striving to become more holy in this wicked world. Now that we read this, it shouldn’t be a question but to follow God wholeheartedly. The time is near, so we need to keep our hearts in check and prepare for Jesus to come.

"No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

The one thing I am so excited about heaven is seeing God face to face. We have this faith in God who we cannot see so it would be nice to put a face to our God. But that is just one of the many things I am excited for. We will be able to worship God all day. Have fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters all the time. No more persecution or any curse. We will have eternal peace. Are you excited to live eternally with our God? Or is something holding you back? Let us continue to grow our faith in God and live prepared and ready for Jesus’ coming. Let us pray for the nations and be the example Christ set for us. Let us keep running this race strong with God’s purpose for us and our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. The founder and finisher of our faith.

"Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the lamb’s book of life.”

I honestly still can’t imagine a place so pure because of the world we live in but I can’t wait. There will be no more evil. I wonder if there will be reproduction in heaven or if it will just be us living eternally. We won’t have to worry about darkness and there will be no night. We will never be tired. Will a day be like a thousand years? We won’t have to worry about time. There will be no rush for anything. I have so many questions but I’m just gonna have to wait and see. Heaven is gonna be so surreal. Let us stay hopeful for Jesus’ victory.

"The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.”

This city is a perfect cube and it’s the most holy place. We get to live in a perfect city with our perfect father. It’s our eternal dwelling place. The measuring ensures protection, and this was all carefully planned out by God. I still can’t really imagine heaven, but I know it will be so beautiful. I see heaven as the end goal of a video game like Super Mario Galaxy except like a million times better. I can’t wait to see heaven but most of all be in the presence of God eternally. Imagine walking down the streets made of pure gold. Everything will be so shiny. We will truly be in paradise eternally. Let us rejoice that we have such a good God and remain hopeful in times of suffering, so we imagine heaven.

"And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the order of things has passed away.’”

I can’t wait for this day to come. Everything will be brand new and God will be dwelling with us. I wonder what it will be like. We’ve all grown accustomed to our ways on earth and how the world is, so it’ll be different. But the good thing is that there will be no evil. No death or tears. Everyone will be joyful because we will finally be with God. We will be able to drink from the springs of living water. God will fulfill his promises to us. God is our good good father. He loves us so much that he’s being patient in ending the world. We serve a great and powerful God. Let us rejoice that we have a perfect God who loves his imperfect children. Let us stay eager and persevere till the end.

"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.”

Judgement day is here, and everyone will know what they did wrong. God knows all and these people won’t be able to lie their way out of this one. The book of life is only for the true believers. No fakers or lukewarm Christians. God looks at the heart so that means we can’t hide anything from God. We must be honest and true to God. What are our intentions of going to heaven? Is it materialistic or is it because you want to be with God eternally? You and God only know that. The dead will be judged according to what they did. Scary with all the sin we commit. Let us really check our hearts and ask ourselves these hard questions and be honest with God. We are not perfect, but we can strive to be holy not for ourselves but for God.

"They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.”

It’s crazy to see that Satan will not give up in the end. He’ll waste his time to gather up people to deceive all to be devoured by the fire in heaven. Satan will suffer his consequence being tormented in the lake of burning sulfur eternally. I feel like Satan would already know that he would lose in the end but will take any chance he gets. At this point, it’s deceiving as many people as he can to be on his side. Since this is telling the future and Satan knows the Bible, wouldn’t he give up by now? God loves his people though so i think that Satan knows the only way to anger God is to deceive his people. That’s what he does best. For us, we must stay strong in our faith and spread the good news. We need to obey everything God wants us to do. God is all powerful and he could end the world right now, but the world is not ready. We are all his sheep and he want no one to be left behind. God loves us so much so let us serve him to the fullest in return with a joyful heart.

"I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

I believe these people are the 144,000 because of the time with the beast. The ones who died for Christ. It doesn’t seem like this is heaven yet, but they still get to reign with Christ. The faithfulness of these martyrs is what we should strive for. To stay grounded in our faith no matter what comes our way. Trump’s secretary is a good example and knows to always recognize God. We need to not be ashamed or scared to show that we are Christians. We need to have their perseverance to keep going because in the end, it will all be worth it. Eternity with Christ and there will be no more evil. So, let us stay strong and rejoice that Jesus has defeated sin.

"Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.”

Sometimes when God is speaking through someone, people will worship that person instead of God or think more highly of that person. There were times in my life when I experienced what John experienced but those people were like the angel and they said they are just the messenger and we need to worship God. I think there are two lessons: stay humble and worship God alone. Unfortunately, many people struggle with this. The pastor will get too prideful that he wants all the praise to himself and the people will worship man instead of God. Churches become cults and they lose sight of why they were doing it in the first place. Sometimes it’s hard to worship something we can’t see but if we could see God, then we’d all be dead. Which is why we need faith to believe what we cannot see. When I was younger, I feel like when I was worshiping, I was just saying words and I just did it cause I liked the song. I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics at all and what they meant. It’s sad to see many churches not truly worshiping. In the spiritual realm, there’d only be a couple of fires above a person’s head. True worship is what we need. Let us worship God and stay humble.

"At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’”

Sometimes when God is speaking through someone, people will worship that person instead of God or think more highly of that person. There were times in my life when I experienced what John experienced but those people were like the angel and they said they are just the messenger and we need to worship God. I think there are two lessons: stay humble and worship God alone. Unfortunately, many people struggle with this. The pastor will get too prideful that he wants all the praise to himself and the people will worship man instead of God. Churches become cults and they lose sight of why they were doing it in the first place. Sometimes it’s hard to worship something we can’t see but if we could see God, then we’d all be dead. Which is why we need faith to believe what we cannot see. When I was younger, I feel like when I was worshipping, I was just saying words and I just did it cause I liked the song. I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics at all and what they meant. It’s sad to see many churches not truly worshipping. In the spiritual realm, there’d only be a couple of fires above a person’s head. True worship is what we need. Let us worship God and stay humble.

"The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of the bridegroom and bride will never be heard again. Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.”

Babylon became very evil very fast. They even persecuted the prophets and saints. Everybody followed the lies that were told to them and believed it. All people wanna be is rich, happy, and famous, and also look good (the easy way). The people fell into that trap and lie. But God didn’t like that at all which is why Babylon fell. It became everything satan wanted but God shut that down real quick in one hour. I feel like right now, people don’t know to believe or who to trust but the media deceives us of who to hate and who to support. If we don’t do our research, we will fall into the trap. Just like that, we need to do our research in the Bible to stay grounded in the truth and not be led astray by false prophets. Let’s follow God and not the world.

"They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: ‘Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’”

It’s crazy how money has taken over this world and people go crazy over what you can but with that money. People will suddenly respect you and the fame that gets to their heads is even worse. In this verse we see these people have been blindsided by Babylon’s wealth. What if Babylon was not wealthy? Would they still mourn for her? Money is such a big temptation. We even get greedy giving tithe as if 10% is too much to give to God. They say rich people are the stingiest with their money and hardly give because there’s no gain for themselves. The thing that causes that greed is selfishness and we all struggle with it. Many people are worse than others. Money can buy what gives us pleasure but we will never be satisfied. We were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ to be with our Holy God to live with him eternally. Jesus Christ is our eternal satisfaction. Nothing in this world can compare.

"Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people , so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.’”

Babylon was a bad city. Was it worse than Sodom and Gomorrah? He sin was piled up to heaven! I would compare this city to Las Vegas, New York, or San Francisco. Any of the big cities full of parties, gambling, drinking left and right. God never wanted earth to be like that but it has become the norm. That’s why it says to come out of her. If we are surrounded by all that sin, we will be tempted. Our flesh is weak. We are not strong and one little compromise will turn into more. As it says in Colossians 3:1-2, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature,” We are not perfect but we have to remember Jesus died for us on the cross to give us eternal life. We owe him everything.

"They will make war against the Lamb; but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings - And with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

The devil will continue to try and make war against Jesus until the end even though every time Jesus wins. No matter how bleak it looks, Jesus will always win because he’s just that powerful. God already has it all planned out. He knows what will happen in the future. So why do we doubt? Why do we constantly go back to thinking we can go this on our own? We all have a sin nature so it is natural for us to go back to our old ways but we have to keep God on our minds 24/7. We need to give him full control. All we have to do is keep our eyes fixed on him. The world is turning more and more evil so we need to stay in tune with God and not be swayed by the lies.

"The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘It is done!’ Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man had been on earth, so tremendous was the quake.”

This I think is the last judgement of God because the angel says, ‘It is done!’ The earthquake will destroy most of earth and the people. No one will be able to stop this, not even Satan. Just as God sent his son down to die for our sins. He also completed all the judgement upon the earth. Still no one repents in the end and end up hating God. Can you imagine this earth finally being just bits and pieces in the end? Now I’m just waiting for God to make the new heavens and new earth. There will be no more destruction, no more tears. We will be led to springs of living water. Everyone will welcome us with open arms and we will worship God eternally. Let us keep running the race until he says no more. Let us continue to be faithful with this hope in mind.

"Then I saw three evil spirits that look like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.”

Frogs are classified as an unclean animal. I never understood the Princess and the Frog because frogs are unclean. These frogs came out of the mouth of the dragon. Beast, and false prophet as if they are in charge of robots. There are so many movies of bad guys taking over a host to not reveal who they are like Incredibles 2 and Meet the Robinsons. All the kings of the world will be deceived and will go into battle only to lose because God is already victorious. Satan and his demons will have power to keep the people from repenting. It seems no one will at this point. This whole thing sounds like it’s from a movie but it will be real. God’s last judgements will be scary to watch but we are on God’s side. We are on the winning side to victory. We just have to continue to follow him. To endure the race set before us and keep our eyes fixed on him.

"Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: ‘You are just in these judgements, you who are and who were, the holy one, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.’”

God will give those what they deserve. In this case, the people who killed and persecuted the saints and prophets drank that blood. It’s gross but God makes sure everyone gets justice as he is a just God. As we’ve talked about before, people who have done something bad like murder who become Christians still get what they deserve, just in a different way. Mentally, God will not take away the memories of what happened to know what they did wrong. Many people think that God is just loving and forgiving because that is what they are taught or are ignorant to hear when God does something that is just. Some people just want to hear what they want to hear so they will still go to church but only to feel good about themselves. It’s hard to speak the truth to ignorant people. They will not listen so instead we pray and ask God to open their heart in his perfect timing. God is perfect in all of his ways. He knows everything that will happen. Let us continue to trust in our perfect God.

"And sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: ‘Great and marvelous are your areas, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you. For your righteous acts have been revealed.’”

The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb both recognize God’s greatness. It says universal recognition is taught in both the old testament and new testament. The risen Lord triumphed over his enemies in securing spiritual deliverance for his followers. God’s righteous acts have been revealed to everyone and they see that God’s wrath is powerful. That God is holy and he should be the only one we fear. Let us remember what God has done for us. Let us worship him with these songs recognizing who he is and make it known to everyone who God is.

"They were trampled in the windpress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as horses’ bridles for a distance of 1600 stadia.”

This is honestly a very gross and gruesome picture but that is what will happen. God’s wrath is something you do not want to face. Unfortunately, these people will still turn away until this happens. These people had so many chances to accept Christ. On the bright side, I believe all of the Christians will be taken up and will not have to suffer anymore. The rest of the people on earth will face more of God’s wrath because that is the consequence. I wonder how many or all will regret not taking the narrow path to eternal life in the end? Let us continue to pray for those hardened hearts to be softened. For those to find forgiveness from God and to truly repent.

"Then I heard a voice from heaven say, ‘Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ‘Yes’, says the spirit, ‘They will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.’”

All the martyrs will be blessed. So many have sacrificed their life for God but that’s just the body which belongs to God but the soul is still alive in Christ. There will be eternal rest in heaven and rewards. It says in hell, there is no rest day and night. There will be more evil, more persecution, and more martyrs but that doesn’t mean we should lose hope. We already know the battle is won by God. He is victorious and soon this earth will be no more but we will live eternally with God in heaven. So let us stay strong and give 100% to God. Let us remain faithful obeying and following God wherever.

"And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.”

I like learning new songs so it would drive me crazy knowing that I wouldn’t be able to learn this one. But the 144,000 are special. They are blameless and they witnessed and experienced all the persecution and how evil the earth had become. But they did not turn away. They remained faithful til the end and God redeemed them from the earth. If God called you to be apart of the 144,000, would you obey and follow? Would you remain faithful? These are questions we should be asking ourselves every day. Are we prepared at any moment for Jesus to come back? The end is near and let us be the example Jesus and so many others set for us so that his love will shine through us.

"He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.”

This sounds like it comes straight out of a movie but it will be real. Evil will have taken over the world with the beast of the earth who is under the authority of the beast of the sea who is under the authority of the dragon who is Satan. You could say this is the evil trinity. The beast had two horns like a lamb so he appeared to be gentle and harmless like a wolf with sheep clothing. Everyone had to worship the first beast and get the mark 666 otherwise they would be killed. Will the 144,000 be all killed by then? The earth will be all evil. Will anyone even want to repent at that point? The world already seems chaotic now but this is nothing compared to the actual end. Let us stay rooted in the word and keep our foundation strong so that we may not stray. Jesus is our only satisfaction.

"One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast.”

People will believe anything they see. They say “seeing it believing.” Humans will worship anything that is extraordinary. Superheroes, magicians, or great athletes, or anyone that has talent. The world is not hard to deceive so it’s no wonder why there are so many cults and false teachers. The world will worship this beast. He will have authority over all so he will be a president or whatever they will call him. There will be a war against the saints. It will be a tough time for the saints. It will be a tough time for the saints and I don’t know if they will all be killed. The difference between the Christians and non-Christians is that we have faith; believing in something we cannot see and that is God while the non-christians will believe anything they see. I think it’s human nature for us to follow a king or ruler. Otherwise it would be total chaos. We’re like minion trying to find a master. If only people weren’t so easily deceived by the world and we could believe in the one and only God who loves us and is so gracious.

Revelation 2:14-15

"¹⁴ Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. ¹⁵ Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans."

This church is surrounded by ungodly things and Jesus says it’s where Satan’s throne is yet they still do not deny their faith. It seems like this church is doing good but not all of them are. But God knows all and it is pointed out. Some people have taken false teaching and practice it. There is a separation. This is why the body of Christ is so important to all be on the same page. In 1 Corinthians 12:25-26 it says, “that there may be no division in the body, but that the members have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together...” The body will not be well if everything is not functioning like it’s supposed to be. So we need to be watchful of the false teachers. I imagine it like an old style korean drama where the kind is good but has associates close to him doing things behind the king’s back and it causes chaos in the whole kingdom. We need to have the discernment from God to see what’s really going on as we told the leader of this church. If everyone doesn’t repent, then there are consequences. So let us be one body of Christ staying in the truth and all on one page so that we do not stray.

Revelation 1: 7-8

"“Look, he is coming with the clouds,”and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him.”So shall it be! Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

When I look at this picture, it doesn’t make me afraid but joyful to see him come. Tears of joy will fall and we will be rejoicing. Everyone will realize that Jesus is in fact real. He is the beginning and end and has been with us always. People will know that evolution is not real and God really did make everything. I am once again so grateful that I know God and that I am saved. That God opened my eyes and my heart to the things a normal person would not comprehend. All the more, it encourages me to share the good news with others so that they may know God and if God is willing, will be saved. The world does not revolve around us but God is at the center. Let us rejoice for who God is. He is the author and perfecter of our faith. Our king, father, and friend. Holy, holy, holy is he. Our Saviour and Lord forever and ever, amen.