Rapture Prophecy? Letter to Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13)

Once again, turn to Revelation chapter 3, and tonight we're going to be looking at verses 7 -13, and this is the faithful church, the church in Philadelphia.

Now one thing we haven't talked much about is the subject of Bible prophecy.

I mean, this is the book of Revelation after all, and yet for the past several weeks we really haven't got into that subject, but tonight we will because I believe we see a prophetic statement in verses 10 and 11.

Actually, I think 9 through 11, but look at verse 10. Jesus tells the faithful church, because you have kept my command to persevere,

I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.

So is this a reference to what people call the rapture of the church?

I mean, obviously some people would say no, but I believe it is, so we're going to talk about that, but let's just read the whole letter,

Revelation 3, 7 -13. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write these things, says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.

I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it.

For you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.

Indeed, I will make them come and worship before your feet. And to know that I have loved you because you have kept my command to persevere,

I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

Behold, I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will go out no more.

And I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my

God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my

God. And I will write on him my new name. And he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

So the letter to Philadelphia and there's somebody somewhere thinking this, so I'm just going to say it that no, this is not a reference to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

I'm not trying to insult your intelligence, but there is somebody out there who might think that, uh,

I remember hearing a story, a guy was listening to a sermon series from revelation.

The pastor was preaching about the seven seals, you know, the seven seals of revelation.

And in his mind, he was thinking like, you know, the otters and sea lions and like this,

Oh, the seven seals. Yeah, but no, that's not what it is. So, you know, just in case for that one, one person, but Jesus is giving this message to the apostle

John sometime around 90 to 95 AD. So this is the ancient city in Asia minor modern day,

Turkey, the city of Philadelphia, which like the modern city in Pennsylvania still means the same thing.

It's the city of what? Yeah. Although people who travel to modern

Philadelphia have not necessarily found that to be the case. Uh, but, uh, this city was located about 30 miles

Southeast of Sardis that we talked about last time. And it's believed to have been founded by Adalist the second.

So those of you who like history, uh, Adalist the second was the King of Pergamos.

Uh, one commentator says this, that this ancient King, his unusual devotion to his brother earned him the name

Adalist Philadelphia. So that's where the city is named after.

Supposedly, uh, the city was an important commercial stop on a major trade route called the

Imperial post road. So this was a first century mail route, so to speak.

Now the scripture doesn't really tell us too much about this city. The only thing that we can draw, some commentators believe that it was probably planted.

The church was, um, as a result of Paul's ministry in Ephesus, that somebody from Ephesus may have planted the church, but we don't really know, but let's just start out, go through verse by verse.

Like we've been doing verse seven, he writes into the angel of the church in Philadelphia, right?

These things says he who is holy and he who is true. And you know this by now it's in red letters.

You don't have a red letter Bible still who's stuck. Who's talking. So Jesus is kind of referring to himself in the third person.

Uh, these things says he who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens.

So Jesus is describing himself in such a way that really highlights or maybe emphasizes his absolute sovereignty.

You know, I am the one who opens the door. No man can open. If I, if I open it, no man can shut up.

Uh, Jesus says he has the key of David. Now what does that mean? Sometimes he makes these statements and you're kind of left to figure it out.

Well, if you remember back in chapter one, Jesus said he had a pair of keys for something else.

You remember what that was? Yeah. He had the keys of death and hell or death and Hades.

So Jesus, he has the key of David. This is probably a reference to, uh, the key to the kingdom.

Uh, later he's going to talk about, or just in that same sentence, I mean, he's talking about the heavenly city, new

Jerusalem. So the key to the kingdom, uh, that's probably similar. He's saying, you know,

I am the one who is true. You know, he's the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through him.

So he has the key. I'm the only one who, you know, can get in or can get you in.

So Jesus is Lord. He's the sovereign King. And that's probably what's being expressed.

Uh, verse eight, he says, I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it for you have a little strength and have kept my word and have not denied my name.

So this is what, what do we say this was? Because we've talked about the dead church, the corrupt church, the compromising church.

This is what right? The faithful church. So it's like contrasted, uh, with the church we looked at last week that was dead.

So the people in Sardis, we said were unsaved. That's what a dead church is. The people are not saved, or at least the majority, uh,

Philadelphia. On the other hand, the people here are saved. So Sardis was just about completely ready to die.

This church on the other hand has great potential. An open door is in front of them.

So this open door is probably a reference to, uh, the great work of ministry that's going on.

And they have so much potential things they can do for Christ. The only other statement that I could think of in the

Bible that talks about like an open door, Paul said, first Corinthians 16, nine, a great and effective door has opened to me.

He said, but there are many adversaries. So do you have another reference? Just going back to the key of David, my father had a cross reference to Matthew 16, 19.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Right? Yeah. You remember that, that time when, when

Peter made his great confession of faith, thou art the Christ, the son of the living

God. Jesus said, I give you the keys to the kingdom. And of course that's where people get the idea that when you die and go to heaven,

Peter's there at the gate, you know, to greet you. That's probably not the case, but, um, what's the key to the kingdom?

I mean, that's, I mean, the gospel is the key. Christ is the key or he has the key.

So a door has been opened to them. Uh, we think of this as a door.

So there's potential in work of ministry. Uh, sometimes living in Western Massachusetts, we feel like we have a closed door, right?

Isn't that kind of the way it seems like with most people? There's just not a lot of interest, not a lot of zeal.

Uh, but Jesus says to this church, now you have an open door. I mean, there's all sorts of different things you can do.

And, uh, I'm sure they were doing a, uh, a great work. Now, just because we might think that there is a closed door, maybe there is, maybe there isn't, uh, should never be an excuse to not do the work.

Amen. Uh, today. And I just think of this open door to the ministry. If that's what he's talking about, uh, in any day and age, there's people that are praying for revival.

I think there probably was something like revival going on in this church by the looks of it.

Uh, but do you know, people that are praying for revival, are you praying for revival?

Uh, some people have different ideas about this. People believe that revival isn't happening because of us.

Like Christians are just not zealous enough. Christians are not, you know, the problems with us.

Others say that, no, it's God, you know, we can't manufacture it.

If revival is going to be, it's going to be happening. It's not dependent on us. It's dependent on God.

Uh, some people would argue that, you know, he is the one who opens the door, not man. So that would be an argument for that.

Maybe it's a combination of the two either way, uh, of all the seven churches in revelation, this is the church that we want to emulate.

Uh, we want to be like this church. So we want that open door in the ministry.

And most of all, we want Christ to say about us that we are, you know, faithful.

And actually does he, does he call them the faithful church? I mean, that's a label that we're putting on them.

I don't think he's actually says that. Does he, well, why are they called the faithful church though? I mean, he only has good things to say.

You notice there's no critique. Usually the letters are like, okay, here's what you're doing right.

Nevertheless, and then he goes into what they are doing wrong, but you don't see any of that with the church in Philadelphia.

So hence, uh, the label of the faithful church, look at verse nine, Jesus makes this, uh, puzzling or interesting statement.

Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews and are not, but lie.

Uh, indeed, I will make them to come and worship before your feet and to know that I loved you.

So this statement about the synagogue of Satan, you remember this came up, uh, back in chapter two, right?

When we were looking at the church in Smyrna, uh, Jesus mentioned the synagogue of Satan.

What was going on with the church in Smyrna? Do you remember they were being, now that was a church, nothing bad was said, but it wasn't a great situation.

Yeah. Cause they were going through persecution, right? So, uh, you see that the source of persecution likely because he mentioned synagogue of Satan, the persecution was likely coming from the

Jews. That's why he says this. If you look at the book of Acts, I mean, a lot of Christians have the idea that the early church, the persecution that was against them was from the

Romans, but that really is not the case in the book of Acts. It's almost always the Jews that are persecuting the

Christians. The Roman persecution was real. I mean, that did happen, but it came later on, but early in the first century, most of it was from the

Jews of the apostles. I remember they were beaten and put in prison and it was before the

Jewish Sanhedrin that they had to stand in front of. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. Even when the Romans or the secular authorities kind of came down on the

Christians, it was because they stirred them up to do it. And that's what they did with Pilate. Pilate didn't want to crucify

Jesus. I mean, he was kind of forced into it. So just one more example in the book of Acts, when

Herod killed the apostle James, it says that when he did it, he saw that it pleased the

Jews. So then he decided he was going to kill Peter too, but that didn't work out now to be clear, because I know that some people get a little nervous when people are talking about, saying negative things about the

Jews, right? People aren't comfortable with that. And then you see the statement, synagogue of Satan, just to be clear, this is not a slander against Jewish people.

Remember the apostle John himself is Jewish. Jesus is

Jewish. I mean, God loved the Jews. They were the apple of his eye.

So this has nothing to do with, you know, antisemitism or anything like that.

It's a comment though, on the character of these people. So they're called a synagogue of Satan because any chance they got, they would do harm, like physical harm to the

Christians. And if they could get away with killing the Christians, they would do it. Okay. So, I mean, these are violent people that are getting kind of the label synagogue of Satan and it's

Jesus talking. All right. So it's the Lord speaking. So he says they're

Jews, but they're not. What do you mean by that? How can they be Jews, but then you say they're not

Jews? What does that mean? Right. Yeah.

Circumcision is to be of the heart. So a person could say, hey,

I'm a Christian, and you know this, that there's people who say I'm a Christian, but are they really

Christians? I mean, there are false professors of faith. So, I mean, that's kind of the way it is that they said they are

God's people. We are Jews, but Jesus knows because he is the Lord. He knows that they don't truly believe in the

God of Moses. They don't really believe in the Torah, but they do. So they're physically

Jewish, but spiritually they're unbelievers for all practical purposes.

So Jesus makes the statement about those people. He says, indeed,

I will make them come and worship before your feet.

What does that mean? Now, before I try to explain what it means, let me first start out by telling you what it doesn't mean.

Here's what it doesn't mean. The Jews are not going to come and start worshiping the Christians, right? Again, that's another thing that 99 % of people would know, but that is kind of the way it sounds.

They'll come and worship before your feet. Any ideas, any theories on what this refers to?

It is a puzzling statement, and I've never really taken the time to do an in -depth study of Revelation chapters two and three.

So I was studying this, and I think I found something that I've never seen before, which is exciting for me when

I do that. Who can relate to that feeling? You've read through a passage of scripture, and I've never seen that.

Or it just clicks, and all of a sudden you understand it when you never did before. So I'm going to share with you what

I think this means. So I believe it's in reference to some sort of Jewish conversion.

Okay. So a Jewish conversion. Jesus is predicting what's going to happen.

Has it happened yet? No. He's speaking that it's going to take place. And because it's

Jesus saying it, I think we can rightly call it a prophecy. That's one of the meanings of the word prophecy, that you're foretelling the future.

So Jesus is giving a prophecy, I believe, of Jewish conversion to Christianity.

Now, with Bible prophecy, there's usually a dual nature of fulfillment.

There's a contemporary fulfillment that happens around the time the prophecy is given. And then there is a future, like a full and final fulfillment, maybe hundreds of years later, or in this case,

I believe, in the end times. Okay. So are you with me so far? Any questions? Okay.

So what probably was going to happen, the church in Philadelphia, the

Christians there, they were probably going to face some difficult time of trial. And along with that, there was going to be

Jews who maybe were involved in the persecution right now, but they would come to faith in Jesus.

So I do believe Jews were converted to Christianity back then. I think there was probably a contemporary fulfillment.

But I also believe it's speaking about that great mass conversion of Jews to Jesus during the tribulation period.

Now, who's familiar with it? If you're a member of Morse Corner Church, you've heard this for years, that we believe there's a future for Israel.

Of course, the majority of Jewish people today don't believe in Jesus. We get it. But Paul says in Romans 11, that at a certain point, he says, all

Israel will be saved. So we believe there's a future for Israel.

There will be a sort of mass conversion. And Reveille, we're going to get into this, chapters 7 and 14, when it talks about the 144 ,000 of all the 12 tribes.

So that's 144 ,000 Jewish people or Israelites that believe in Jesus.

And we believe that they act as sort of like evangelists or missionaries, and they're going to lead this end times revival.

And I think that's probably what he's referring to. Now, Bible, I just have to say this because it's the reality.

Bible commentators do disagree in how to interpret these passages.

But you know, that's always true. I could say anything, and there's always going to be somebody who says, no, that's not right.

It's like this, right? It doesn't matter what I say, someone would say that. But this is kind of a dividing point in Christianity.

There's a lot of churches that believe this, and a lot that don't. So I'll just throw that out there.

But I'm pretty firm and pretty certain about this teaching.

So to me, this is pretty clear. Verse 10, you say, well, why is this about the end times?

Didn't you say this is a letter in 90 to 95 AD to a church in modern day

Turkey? But it's to the city, ancient city back. Why do you think this is about our future?

Well, look at verse 10. Actually, verse 11, what does Jesus reference?

Behold, I am coming quickly. Jesus is speaking about his return.

Well, that hasn't happened yet. So that in and of itself, Jesus speaking about his coming again, puts it into the future.

So the context, how do you determine context? Look at the verses before and after.

So either the verse before or verses before or after are going to be tied to that time period where Jesus comes again.

So based on that, I think starting in verse nine, at least, we're talking about something that's going to happen.

Jesus, again, he's making a prophecy. Many Jews will come to faith in Jesus during the tribulation period.

Jesus in verse 10 speaks about the hour of trial that shall come upon what all of Asia minor.

No, it's not what he says. This, this thing is going to come upon the whole world.

This has not happened yet. Okay. So I believe firmly this is a reference to the tribulation.

And again, verse 11, Jesus talks about his return. So most commentators, pastors,

Bible teachers who believe in a literal interpretation of revelation. Yes, they believe that in the end times, during the time of Jacob's trouble, as it's called, there'll be a mass conversion to Christ among the

Jewish people. I remember, what was it? Maybe a year ago, almost a year ago, we did that study in the book of Daniel.

Remember the chart up here, Daniel chapter nine, Daniel 70th week.

And this big complicated prophecy. I explained all that.

Why I believe that there is a seven year tribulation. Cause a lot of people, when you start talking about the rapture and the tribulation, they'll say, well, give me one verse in the

Bible that teaches the rapture. And they want to see, you know, the word rapture or something.

Give me one verse in the Bible that teaches the seven year tribulation. Well, it's like saying, well, give me one verse in the

Bible that teaches the Trinity or something. Sometimes it's, it's not just one verse that gives you the exact wording.

You have to kind of look at the big picture. You have to look at what does the scripture teach?

So we talked about this Daniel 70th week. Um, he said that there is a, he put a timeline on it, uh, 490 years until everlasting righteousness is ushered in and that is everlasting righteousness been ushered in.

No. So when the Messiah was crucified, everything kind of got put on hold.

So God's prophetic timeline, it's like the pause button was pushed. The kingdom was taken from Israel because of that.

It was given to the church, but there is still a future for ethnic

Israel and Romans 11. God Paul says is going to graft them back in to the olive tree.

So if anyone wants more explanation, uh, just go to my YouTube channel, search

Daniel chapter nine, Romans 11. There's videos that will come up where I explain all that.

So I believe revelation chapter three, verse nine refers to what? Verse nine.

That's verse 11. We'll refer to Christ coming again, but verse nine, the, the synagogue of Satan that'll come and worship before your feet refers to yeah.

Jewish conversion to Christ in the end times. Okay. So that's good news for Israel.

Isn't it that God still has a future for you still loves them still has a plan. So that's good news for them.

What about for Christians though? Cause the end times are coming. We know it's going to be a terrible time. Just the word tribulation tells you that trouble.

So there's good news for Israel. Is there good news for Christians about the tribulation? Yeah. Verse right.

Verse 10, because you have kept my command to persevere. I also will keep you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.

If somebody were to ask me, give me one verse that teaches a God is going to,

Jesus is going to come back and rapture the church before the tribulation. If I had to give just one verse, this is the verse

I would give. So he says Christians, right? Faithful believers will be what kept from the tribulation.

Well, okay. It doesn't use the word tribulation, but they will be kept from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world.

That's what the tribulation is. Okay. So just cause you don't see the word tribulation, it's still being described there.

Any questions about that? I mean, do you, do you see it? Right? So why are

Christians kept? Because verse 11, Jesus is coming back. He says, behold,

I am coming quickly, suddenly. So when the rapture happens, okay, when the rapture happens, it's going to happen suddenly.

No, like nobody's expecting it. There are no signs. It's not like these 10 things have to take place.

Now there are signs before the second advent when Jesus literally steps foot on earth.

There's all sorts of signs like wars and rumors of wars and all, all of that in Matthew 24, but before the rapture, there are no signs.

He comes suddenly. So let's turn to first Thessalonians chapter four.

Going to look at a couple of verses along this idea of a pre tribulation rapture.

Okay. That's the technical term. I think everybody's familiar with that, right? Pre tribulation.

The pre means before. So Jesus comes back before the tribulate pre trim, pre tribulation rapture.

Rapture simply means to be caught up. Well, how do you know it's before the tribulation pastor?

Because he says you're going to be kept from the hour of trial. If Jesus left

Christians on the earth for all seven years, they're not really kept from the, from the hour of trial.

They're right in the middle of it, aren't they? Okay. Uh, and besides this is the time, the tribulation is that's the time period where God pours out his wrath upon the earth.

We're going to see that very clearly in revelation chapters six through 18. It's just one judgment after another, after another, it's

God pouring out his wrath. God is not going to pour out his wrath on his own people. Why?

Because Jesus has taken the wrath of God for us. So that's not going to happen, but let's look at some more evidence for this idea of a pre tribulation rapture.

First Thessalonians four, let's start in verse 15. Paul says to the church, uh, for this, we say to you by the word of the

Lord, that we who are alive in remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means proceed those who are asleep for the

Lord himself will descend from heaven where the shout with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will what rise first.

Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up. Okay. That's the

Greek word Harpazo meaning rapture. That's that's the word we will be raptured or caught up with them in the clouds to meet the

Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

So I don't see the word rapture there. Yeah. It's the word caught up. There's probably a translation that uses the word rapture, but you do see the idea.

The Bible teaches that this time is going to come believers who have already died.

Their body is in the ground. Where's their spirit right now? Absent from the body present with the

Lord. So their spirit is already with the Lord. Their body is in the ground. When Jesus comes back in the clouds, their body is resurrected and body and soul reunite.

And then all the Christians that are still alive, just get taken up with them. That's what happens.

That's what Paul is describing in first Thessalonians four. Now, the obvious question when he would teach the church about this, and when we hear about it, the question everybody has is what, when, when's this going to happen?

We all want to know. Well, Paul addresses that just go to the next verse. First Thessalonians five verse one.

What does Paul say concerning the time concerning the times and seasons brethren, you have no need that I should write to you because I've already told you this because you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the

Lord, the tribulation is probably being referred to as the day of the Lord. So day of the

Lord equals these seven years. You know perfectly that the day of the Lord of the tribulation, it's going to come like what a thief in the night.

Yeah. But what starts the tribulation, the return of Christ, the rapture triggers the day of the

Lord. So the Lord so comes as a thief in the night for when they say peace and safety, then sudden destruction comes upon them as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.

But you brethren, you are not in darkness so that this day should overtake you as a thief.

And then he goes on to say that Christians are not appointed to wrath.

So this idea of Christ coming like a thief in the night, I think we talked about this last week when a thief comes, it happens like you don't know when the thief is coming.

Otherwise you could watch and do something about it. So it's unexpected. It's sudden. It's harmful.

And it all happens quick. You know, the thief doesn't sit in your recliner and kick back and just take his time.

No, he's in and out as fast as he can get. So Paul is saying that Christians, uh, when this happens, when, once the rapture starts, once the rapture happens, the tribulation starts, he says,

Christians are not going to be harmed. He uses the word overtaken, that you are not going to be overtaken.

So this is the same idea as revelation three, that you're going to be kept from the hour of trial that you follow.

I think this is pretty easy to understand. So in first Thessalonians four,

Paul teaches the rapture. Then he moves into the timing of it. And then chapter four rolls into chapter five.

I like to describe it this way. The rapture triggers the day of the Lord. So Christians really don't need to worry.

The church in Philadelphia, this is a prophetic statement. So if you're a faithful believer, if you have faith in Christ, if you're saved, you got nothing to worry about when this, uh, hour of trial comes upon the earth.

Why? Because you're going to be kept from it. That's good news. And I don't know if you can see it, but like this world is, we're just on like the fast track to, it's like, people want the tribulation to start tomorrow.

It's like, what can we do to make God angry? And what can we do like forming some like global government and, and, uh, you know, during COVID they were talking about microchips and they've always talked about this, that we're going to have something that we can just put in your right hand and all of your health information can be scanned.

There was some article about, uh, a company that was trying that in somewhere in Europe. And it's like, like, this is what we're talking about here.

But anyways, that's not the mark of the beast, but it's going to be something that's going to happen probably like that.

We don't have to worry about this terrible time that's coming upon the whole world because we're going to be taken out of the world.

Now, how certain am I about that? How certain are you about this teaching of the pre -tribulation rapture?

There's no right answer. I'm just asking your opinion. You're a hundred percent, 50%. And it might be somebody here who doesn't believe it.

I mean, it is in the church doctrinal statements, so we appreciate you not fighting against us, but, uh, how, how confident are you?

Okay. I'm hearing pretty confident. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. I really want it to be that one. Here's, here's, here's the thing. I am confident about the pre -trib rapture.

If that turns out not to be true, I'm just going to switch to mid -trib. If that doesn't pan out, then

I'll be post -trib is like a last resort. Not because I want this or I want that.

I mean, I am pretty well convinced that this is what the Bible teaches, but you know,

I do have to say again, because there are good Christians who have other viewpoints.

Okay. Just a few comments on this, these other positions.

There are some people who do believe in a mid -tribulation rapture. I don't know that I've ever met somebody who believes that.

There's a lot of people who believe in a post -tribulation rapture. Okay. That, that's a very common viewpoint.

I think that is highly problematic. Now, there are some people who don't believe in a rapture at all, because if you believe in the rapture of the church, you have to be what is called pre -millennial.

And we talked about the, the kingdom, the 1000 years that Jesus references in Revelation 20.

Pre -millennial means Jesus returns before the millennium. So, you got the rapture, seven -year tribulation, the second advent,

Jesus sets up the millennium that lasts for a thousand years. Jesus comes back before the millennium.

He is reigning on earth for that thousand years. That's pre -millennial. Okay. People who are pre -millennial believe in some sort of rapture.

People that are not pre -millennial don't believe in any rapture at all. Okay. So, there are people that are called post -millennial.

So, they believe that Jesus comes back, what? After the thousand years.

So, this is basically the idea that the world is just going to get better and better and better.

And I'm overly simplifying this, but they believe the world is going to get better and better.

The church will usher in the kingdom and then Jesus will come back with the new heaven and the new earth.

Or before that, maybe he'll come back and kind of take it from there. They don't believe in the rapture.

People who are amillennial don't believe in a thousand years. They don't believe in a rapture either.

So, I'm not saying that someone is a bad Christian because they don't believe in the rapture. I'm just saying they're wrong.

Okay. But, you know, they would say I'm wrong and we can still be friends, right?

Can we be friends? Here's just to kind of share with you.

Here's what does kind of irritate me a little bit, that some churches just don't talk about this at all.

Like, they don't want to talk about the end times and I don't know why. Maybe there's some people that don't want to put in the time because it can get complicated.

So, it takes effort. I don't think that's it. I think one big reason is, yeah, there's so many people that disagree.

So, if I put this position out there, there's going to be all these people that are upset because they believe something. I think that's why a lot of churches don't teach on it because they don't want to offend anyone.

But this is important stuff and I'll explain why in a second.

Yes. I wonder if they might be a little like I was years ago in my immaturity.

Revelations scared me. I didn't want to suffer. I didn't want to go through all the horrible things that were going to happen leading up to the first seven years of Revelation.

And I used to pray that God would take me home before any of it came about and thought

I was oh so holy because I did so. And then it was during the opening of all things that it suddenly dawned on me that that is

God's call and it's exciting and I need to understand as much as he allows me to what it's going to look like so that I can be ready and I can't be deceived.

Yeah. Yeah, a lot of people got interested in the end times in 2020.

Imagine that, you know. So there's, you know, pre -millennial, amillennial, and I'm throwing these theological terms at you.

And, you know, some people are, you know, if you haven't really studied it, it can be complicated with all the terminology if you're not aware of it.

Some people, though, are pan -millennial, right? They say it's just all going to pan out in the end. They don't really talk about it or take a position.

But here's the thing. Jesus wrote this letter, like it's called the book of revelation.

Like Jesus wrote this letter to reveal to his people what's going to happen.

And I just can imagine Jesus up in heaven looking down upon the modern church and seeing that revelation is the most ignored book, and it is.

Maybe Philemon is ignored more, but revelation is like the most ignored book in the

New Testament. And yet it's revelation. He wants us to know. So there'll be people who say, well,

I don't see how any of this is relevant to my life. Well, you know, if the rapture happens tomorrow, it's going to be real relevant all of a sudden.

And it's relevant now anyways. So all right, let's look at verse 11. He says, behold,

I am coming quickly. Hold fast what you have that no one may take your crown.

So if the seven churches of revelation are patterned churches, we talked about this,

I forget which week, but if they're patterned churches, representative churches, right?

Why seven? Because there's more than seven churches in Asia. But he chose seven,

I think, the number being symbolic for completeness, that every single church on earth kind of fits into one of these patterns.

So your church is either going to be a faithful church, a dead church, compromising church, persecuted something.

So every church, I think, fits into one or the other. We want to be, this is where it becomes real relevant.

We want to be the faithful church because if you're the dead church and the rapture happens, guess what?

You're going through the tribulation, buddy, whether you like it or not. Well, I don't believe in that stuff.

Well, if somebody doesn't believe, does that make it, does that mean it's not going to happen?

So it's very relevant. But here's the great promise from Christ to the faithful believer.

Verse 12, he who overcomes, that is, if we keep the faith, Jesus says to that person,

I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more.

I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new

Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

So in conclusion, as I said last time, these final statements given to each church, they're all a little different, but they're all saying the same thing.

It's talking about salvation and security that you have in Christ if you're one of the people that listen.

So the book of Revelation, it's the only book where a blessing is promised to those who hear the words of the prophecy.

And when Jesus says, like in verse 13, he who has an ear to hear, let him hear. It's not that you're just hearing it audibly.

It's that you're listening to what he says. So if we are faithful and we listen to Christ, if the rapture happens tonight, tomorrow, or whenever it is, we will be caught up, and thus we shall always be with the