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Introduction: These transcripts of
Kay Arthur's lectures on Revelation (Parts 2-4) are provided as a service
to the body of Christ with the written permission of Precept Ministries
International. This material is the property of Precept Ministries
International and all rights are reserved. The transcripts are for the
most part verbatim with deletions identified by the characters (...).
The utilization of italics, bolding, hyperlinks and pop up notes represent
editorial additions. Any written additions are identified by the
designation "Ed note". Note that all underlined references are active links
and that any text underlined and in bright
blue identifies a popup note
which can be activated by holding the mouse pointer over the link. All
reference links and popups are the NASB unless otherwise indicated.
Please note that these lectures by
Kay Arthur supplement the excellent Precept Upon Precept inductive Bible
study on the Revelation. Click the following links to view each division
of this encouraging study and note that you can also download the first
lesson of each of the 4 parts:
If you can
find a local Precept class studying Revelation, I would strongly encourage
you to join the class, as I know of no other study available anywhere in
the world that will equip you so thoroughly to discern the signs of the
times and cause you to live expectantly as you look for Christ's Return! |
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WHO'S
SIDE ARE YOU ON?
YOU CAN'T HAVE THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS
Part 2 |
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Revelation
Pt 2, Lecture |
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by Kay
Arthur |
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Click
following for literal chapter by chapter chart summary of:
Revelation 4-10
Revelation 11-16
Revelation 17-19
Revelation 20-22 |
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Where are you going to spend
eternity?
There are only 2 destinations.
Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things
which must shortly take place; and He sent and communicated [it] by
His angel to His bond-servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word
of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, [even] to all that he
saw.
Rev 1:11 saying, "Write in a
book what you see, and send [it] to the seven churches: to Ephesus
and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to
Philadelphia and to Laodicea."
Rev 1:19 "Write therefore the
things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things
which shall take place after these things. |
All these events lead up to one
AWESOME CLIMAX, the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Rev 1:7 Behold, He is coming
with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced
Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. Even so.
Amen. |
Even though those who pierced Him
were Jews, we see they will remain a nation all through this book.
Rev 4-19 record the events
Preceding His Return and Rev 20-22 record the events Following His
Return.
So Revelation gives us the whole
picture from the time of the church to creation of the new heaven and new
earth.
REVIEW: There are two kingdoms,
two powers (Click here for further discussion of these "two's" in Lecture
11). You can't have the best of both. There are two women. Today we
will discuss....
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TWO DESTINATIONS
and
ANOTHER WOMAN |
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ONE DESTINATION: THE LAKE OF FIRE |
(1) THE LAKE OF FIRES IS A PLACE
OF TORMENT, DAY AND NIGHT FOREVER
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Rev 14:9 And another angel, a
third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone
worships the
beast (who rules
the whole world for 3.5 years having received authority from the
dragon) and his
image, and receives a
mark
on his forehead or upon his hand,
10 he also will drink of the
wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup
of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
11 "And the smoke of their torment goes up
FOREVER AND EVER
; and they have
NO REST DAY AND NIGHT
, those who
worship the beast
and his image,
and whoever receives the
mark of his name." |
Although this verse does not
directly use the phrase "Lake of fire", it is clear from comparison with
other passages that John is referring to that destination. There is a
teaching (Ed comment: even in some evangelical circles) on
HELL
which says that
after a period of time, the individual in this location will experience
annihilation. This teaching however is not in the Word of God but
origins in the heart of men who won't receive the truth. For unbelievers,
there is no escaping this torment, and no escaping that it is forever.
Revelation 19 occurs following
the Return of Christ...
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Rev 19:20 And the
beast
was seized, and with him the
false prophet
who performed the signs in his
presence, by which he deceived those who had received THE
MARK
OF THE BEAST and those who WORSHIPED his image; these two were
thrown alive into the
lake of fire which
burns with brimstone. |
Who is going there?
Those who received the mark. The beast and the false prophet.
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Rev 16:13 (DURING THE 6th BOWL, JUST BEFORE THE 7th BOWL IS POURED OUT ON
THE EARTH, JUST BEFORE BABYLON IS DESTROYED & CHRIST RETURNS TO EARTH
AFTER THE 7th BOWL) And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and
out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the
false prophet,
three unclean spirits like frogs
14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the
kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great
day of God, the Almighty. |
The FALSE PROPHET appears to
be the Second BEAST in
Rev 13:10-14.
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Rev 20:10 (THIS EVENT OCCURS 1000 YEARS AFTER THE BEAST
AND FALSE PROPHET ARE THROWN
INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE) And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the
lake of fire
and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are
also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
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So those DESTINED FOR THE LAKE OF FIRE ARE:
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Those men and women who have the
mark
of the beast, the beast, the false prophet and the dragon (devil). The
last 3 are the first to be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Remember that
God did not make the Lake of Fire for man because He is not willing that any should
perish. In the gospel of Matthew Jesus teaches on the original purpose of
eternal fire recording....
Matt 25:41 (The context of
these verses is the Judgment of the Nations after Christ returns to
earth and defeats the beast) "Then He
will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into
THE ETERNAL
FIRE which has been
PREPARED FOR THE DEVIL AND HIS ANGELS;
Matt 25:46 "And these will
go away into
ETERNAL punishment,
but the righteous into
ETERNAL life." |
Note that the Greek word for ''eternal''
is aion and used to modify both eternal life and eternal punishment. So if eternal punishment ceases
(annihilation) then eternal life would also have to cease.
In summary, we see two
destinations and you can choose your destination.
(2) THE LAKE OF FIRE IS THE SECOND DEATH
At the Great White Throne, books opened and the dead are being judged
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Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them and they were judged, every one
of them according to their deeds. 14 And death and Hades were thrown into
the lake of fire
. This is the
second death
, the
lake of fire
.
Eph 2:1: And you were dead
in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince of
the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons
of disobedience. |
Eph 2:1-2 teaches that all (after Adam sinned
cf
Ro5:12) were born into death because
every man is a sinner and each have walked after their own way.
THE FIRST
DEATH when you
were physically born, you were born spiritually dead.
THE SECOND DEATH
If you never
receive Christ as Savior, your body dies and corrupts while your soul goes
to Hades (hell).
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Luke 16:19 "Now there was a
certain rich man,
and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in
splendor every day. 20 And a
certain poor man named Lazarus
was laid at his
gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs
which were falling from
the rich man's
table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22
Now it came about that
the poor man died and
he
was carried away by the angels to
Abraham's bosom;
and the rich man
also died and was buried. 23 And in
Hades
he
lifted up his
eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and
Lazarus
in his
bosom.
24 And he
cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on
me,
and send Lazarus,
that he
may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool off
my
tongue; for I
am
in agony in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child,
remember that during
your life
you
received your
good things, and likewise
Lazarus bad things;
but now he
is being comforted here, and
you
are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between
us
and you
there is a
great chasm fixed ,
in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not
be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' 27 And
he
said, 'Then I
beg you, Father, that you send
him
to my
father's house--28 for
I have five brothers--
that he
may warn them, lest they also come to this
place of torment.'
29 "But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them
hear them.' 30 "But he
said, 'No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the
dead, they will repent!' 31 "But he said to
him,
'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they
be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'" |
Luke 16:19-31 describes a poor
man named Lazarus and a rich man, both of whom die and go to a place
called Hades,. Lazarus went to the "cool side" of
Hades,
which Jesus refers to as
Abraham's bosom (before the Cross
everyone who died went to either the "hot" or the "cool" side of Hades) where he is comforted. The
rich man is on the "hot" side of Hades, crying out to Father Abraham to
send Lazarus to him with just a dip of water on his finger so that his
tongue might be cooled because he is in flames and torment. Abraham
answers he cannot do this because
"there is a great chasm
fixed" . The rich man
is still in Hades today and will remain there until the time of the Great
White Throne judgment. At that time he will be brought out of Hades to stand
before God at the Great White Throne (Rev
20:11-15) and be
judged according to his deeds. The rich man could have received eternal life but he
rejected the free gift of salvation that was even offered in "Moses
and the prophets" (the Old Testament). At that time the rich man
will be cast into
the lake of fire
, which is the Second Death
and which is also the destiny of SATAN,
the one who deceived him! If you have not believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ and been transformed into a new creation in Christ, then you are deceived.
| Scripture
describes those who will be present in the Lake of Fire as..."the
cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral
persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part [will
be] in
the lake
that burns with
fire and brimstone, which is
the second death
" (Rev
21:8) because as Peter says "there is salvation in no
one else; for there is no other name (other than Jesus Christ)
under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be
saved." (Acts
4:12) |
Today is the day for the blinders to come off if they have not done so
before.
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THE OTHER DESTINATION: A NEW
HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH |
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Rev21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first
heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer [any] sea.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from
God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a
loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God
is among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His
people, and God Himself shall be among them." |
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Those who go
to hell stay there with their father.
Those who go to heaven stand their with their Father.
TWO DESTINATIONS, TWO FATHERS |
God the Father and the father of
lies, the devil, who came to steal, kill and destroy (not annihilate)
forever and ever. God wants to to be your Father.
Who will you believe?
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Rev21:3 And I heard a loud
voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men, and He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His
people, and God Himself shall be among them." 4 and He (THE FATHER!)
shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no
longer be [any] death; there shall no longer be [any] mourning, or crying,
or pain; the first things have passed away. " |
Are you tied of crying? There is
coming a day when you shall no longer cry again if you believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And these will no longer have fear of death. HAVE YOU HAD A LOUSY LIFE,
PAIN-RIDDEN, GUILT-RIDDEN LIFE? It will all pass away in HEAVEN--it's all
over then.
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Rev21:5 And He who sits on
the throne said, "Behold, I am making
ALL THINGS NEW
" And He said,
"Write, for these words are FAITHFUL and TRUE." 6 And He said to me,
"It
is done . I am
the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to
the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without
cost. 7 "He who
OVERCOMES
shall inherit
these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.
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OVERCOMERS
are described in Rev 2-3 (Click
here for summary chart). Not everyone sitting in church is going to heaven. Not
everyone who has professed Jesus Christ is going to heaven, but only those
who have Christ IN them, those that have been TRANSFORMED. HOW DO YOU
RECOGNIZE THEM?
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1Jn 5:4 "For whatever is
born
of God
overcomes
the world; and this is the victory that has
overcome
the world--
our faith.
5 And who is the one who
overcomes
the world, but he who
believes
that Jesus is the Son of God?" |
So the
OVERCOMERS are people of FAITH, those who believe God, who
have been born of God.
John goes on to issue a warning...
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Rev21:8 "But for the
cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral
persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part [will
be] in
the lake
that burns with fire and
brimstone, which is
THE SECOND DEATH." |
So there are TWO DESTINATIONS:
WHERE ARE YOU HEADED? You need to make
sure today because you don't know what happens tomorrow. There is no such
thing as reincarnation
for "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment"
(Heb 9:27).
Every person is eternal and will end up in one of two destinations.
Remember that in
Rev 16:17 John records that "the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon
the air; and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying,
"It is done." So we know that at the 7th bowl Babylon is falling.
Rev 17-18 describes Babylon in great
detail. And then in Rev 19 John records that...
Rev 19:1
After
these things I
heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven,
saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God
2 BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged
the
great harlot (Babylon)
who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS
AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER." 3 And a second time
they said, "Hallelujah!
HER SMOKE
RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER."
4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down
and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!"
5 And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God,
all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the
great." (Bond-servants
of God come from every strata of life but very few rich, very few
noble, mostly the base, the foolish things...Jesus comes to those
and those that are saved come mostly from this latter group) 6
And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the
sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder,
saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. |
Within
the great harlot
are all the
other religions of the world. These other religions cause one to commit
spiritual adultery or to ''fornicate'' with those religions instead of
marrying the Lord Jesus Christ.
The
great harlot corrupts the world with her immorality
and she will let you worship and live any way you want. She will deceive
you by telling you that any way that you think is fine. She will take you
into the eternal fire for the smoke of Babylon goes up
forever and ever.
Babylon will also put to death those who live for Christ.
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THE THIRD
WOMAN: THE BRIDE OF CHRIST |
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Rev 19:7 "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the
marriage of the Lamb has come and His
BRIDE
has made herself ready."8 And
it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for
the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. |
Those that are going to live in the
destination of the new heaven and earth commit RIGHTEOUS
ACTS--they do things that are RIGHT, and what is RIGHT is what God says is
RIGHT, not what we think is right.
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ANOTHER
GROUP AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB
"those who are invited" |
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Rev 19:9 And he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to
the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, "These are true
words of God." (Editorial comment: Here John
describes invited guests which marks them as a group distinct from
the church, since a bride would hardly be invited to her own wedding
and most scholars interpret these guests as Old Testament believers) |
The
BRIDE of Christ has a special place throughout eternity--the
individual believers compose the temple of the living God, the Lamb's
wife.
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Rev 21:9: "And one of the
seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues,
came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I shall show you the
bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city,
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory
of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of
crystal-clear jasper." |
How
should believers respond to this incredible truth?
This truth ought to cause us to fall
prostrate, flat on our face...the awesome privilege of being the Bride of
Jesus Christ. And when you get off of your face, then clothe yourself with
the living garment of righteous acts and don't degrade yourself by living
in sin. Instead live righteously. Live as the bride of the Lamb,
continually walking in a manner worthy of the
calling to which we have been called. There are others (the Old Testament
believers) who are coming to the marriage
supper but they are not the bride and not the groom and yet they too will
step into eternity in God's presence.
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Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven
opened; and behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called
Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12
And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many
diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows
except Himself. 13 And He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood;
and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And
the armies
which are in
heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him
on white horses. |
Who are the
armies ? They are the
"Third Woman, the Bride of Christ". This is us beloved! Do you want to be
there? The invitation is still open. The door has not been shut. You can
still hear the Spirit saying "Come and drink of the water of life freely.
Come now, Jew and Gentile." That is what the church is all about...Jew and
Gentile in one body. But if Jews do not listen and respond to the
invitation, then a great tribulation awaits them. All the nation of Israel
will go through this tribulation, but only one-third of the Jews will
survive and be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb (see Zechariah
13:7-9 below).
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Zechariah 13:7 "Awake, O
sword, against My Shepherd, And against the man, My Associate,"
Declares the LORD of hosts. "Strike the Shepherd that the sheep may
be scattered; And I will turn My hand against the little ones. 8
"And it will come about in all the land," Declares the LORD, "That
two parts in it will be cut off and perish; But the third will be
left in it. 9 "And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, 'They
are My people,' And they will say, 'The LORD is my God.'" |
Rev 1:19 The Outline of the
Revelation:
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"the things which you have
seen,
and
the things which are
and
the things which shall take place
after these things." |
Rev 2-3 The message to the 7 churches in
Asia Minor
Rev 4 After these things...
Rev 5 Lamb worthy to take the sealed scroll, the "title deed to the earth"
(Click
here for discussion of "the title deed")
Rev 6
The
7 sealed scroll is opened by the Lamb, seal by seal (6 seals in
Rev 6)
Rev 8 Out of the 7th seal come 7
trumpets
Rev 11:7
After the 6th trumpet is blown, two witnesses are put to death (having witnessed
for 3.5yr
Rev 11:3) by the beast
Rev 13 After this the beast is given authority for
an additional 3.5 yr period
Rev 13:5
Rev 12 The Woman, Israel, persecuted by the
dragon for 1260 days or 3.5 years
Rev 12:6 (Satan who has been cast out of heaven
Rev 12:4 and only has 3.5 years
Rev 12:13-14) flees into wilderness
during the3.5 yr period that the beast is ruling the world
The sounding of the 7th Trumpet (Rev
11:15
Rev16:1ff) signals the arrival of the 7 bowls
Rev16:17-19 At the 7th bowl, Babylon is
destroyed, followed by the return of Christ to earth bringing the
BRIDE with Him (Rev19:11-21). Somewhere prior to this time the BRIDE got to heaven.
Rev16:16 Battle of Armageddon (more
accurately the name of the place the armies initially gather).
Rev19:11-21 Christ defeats the beast & false prophet
who are cast into the lake of fire.
In
Rev 20 Satan
is bound for 1000 yrs in a bottomless pit
During this same time those who died for the
testimony of Christ are raised to rule and reign with Him for 1000
years. At the end of the 1000 yrs, Satan is loosed, goes out to deceive
the nations, but is quickly defeated by fire from heaven.
Rev 20 Satan is cast into the lake of fire
to join the beast and false prophet who have been there for 1000 years.
Rev 20:11-14 The Great White Throne judgment
occurs at the end of the 1000 years, at a time when the old earth and
heaven have disappeared ("earth and heaven fled away and no
place was found for them.")
Rev 21 A New Heaven & a new
Earth are created.
Rev 22 The Lamb, the
Holy City, no need for sun, tree of life, nations eat of it (Yes, the
nations are different than the bride.)
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"Behold,
I am coming quickly
and
My reward is with Me,
To render to every man
According to what he has done."
Rev 22:12 |
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Rev 22:18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of
this book: if anyone adds to them, God shall add to him the plagues which
are written in this book;
19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city,
which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says,
"Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. |
If you teach anything other than 2 destinations...if
you teach reincarnation...if you teach that all
men can be saved regardless of what they believe... you can know that YOU
HAVE ADDED TO THE WORD OF THIS BOOK and to you have been added the plagues
in this book and you will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Or if take away from
the words of this book and you say you don't believe that God would send
anyone to the lake of fire, because a loving God would not allow that to
happen. If you believe that then you have just taken away from the words
of this book and God will judge you and you will spend eternity in the
lake of fire.
Over and over God says WRITE FOR THESE WORDS ARE FAITHFUL AND TRUE.
You many say "I don't like what I see about God." But remember that
God
is righteous and just in all His ways. If you go to hell, if you end up in the
Lake of Fire, precious one, it is because He is righteous and you would not acknowledge
that He is God and that Jesus, the Lamb of God is the only way to be
saved.
Think of what you are going to miss. Read
Rev 21 and
Rev 22.
And as you read hear His
invitation.
Hear the Spirit and the bride saying
"Come!"
Are you thirsty?
"Come and drink of the water of
life freely."
You may say "But you don't know my story. I'm not worthy. I can't pay
for this water of life."
You come without cost. He is not calling you because you are worthy.
He is calling you because you are a sinner.
He has the means, the only means to save you from the lake of fire.
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O Beloved, where are you headed?
You make better make sure
because wherever you are headed is for all eternity.
There is no
escaping.
Romans 2 says
it is eternal life or eternal death according to your deeds.
Deeds don't save you, but just show whose you are--God's or the devil's.
The devil will lead you into sin and destruction.
God leads you into
holiness,
righteousness
and
eternal life.
Hallelujah! Amen!
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