Keys to Understanding Revelation III

Revelation Series #10
As it Relates to the Rest of the Bible
Fred R. Coulter—November 12, 2005

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As we have been going through and examining certain things, surveying certain other things, over-viewing other things, it is evident that the book of Revelation is so compactly written that even a single word can open up a lot of understanding when we connect it with the rest of the Bible and showing that you cannot read or understand the book of Revelation in isolation. It must be understood with the rest of the Bible.

Revelation 6 is a very important chapter, and we'll see some things I haven't mentioned before although we've covered it many, many times. Revelation 6:1: "And I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seals…" This tells us a key, important thing.

• Acts 1:6—about establishing the kingdom, under the authority of the Father.
• Who was holding the scroll with the seven seals? God the Father!
• Who did He give it to? Jesus Christ!

When it's time for the prophecies to be fulfilled and worked out, God the Father makes the decision, and Jesus Christ carries it out. That one verse tells us a lot.

"…and I heard one of the four living creatures say, like the sound of thunder, 'Come and see.' And I looked, and behold, there was a white horse…" (vs 1-2)—first seal.

• second seal—red horse (v 4)
• third seal—black horse (v 5)
• famine (v 6)
• fourth seal—pale horse (vs 7-8)
• death followed him

 "…authority was given to them… [all of them, the first four horses] …over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and with famine and with death, and by the beasts of the earth" (v 8)

• fifth seal—martyrdom of the saints (v 9)
• sixth seal—opening of heaven (vs 12-13)

We are going to see nearly the same progression of the events listed out here in Rev. 6, that Jesus talks about in Matt. 24—a little bit different. If you read Rev. 6, then Matt. 24[transcriber's correction] helps us understand this is exactly what Jesus said would happen when He told His disciples. If you go back and you read Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel you are going to see how God is deeply involved in the things of this world, not only just there in Rev. 6.

Matthew 24—they wanted to know when the end would be, so He told them—I'm going to summarize:

• v 4—"…Be on guard, so that no one deceives you"—very first thing. You can add in there: don't deceive yourself, because you are someone, too—right? Self-deception is almost incurable!
• v 5—"…many shall come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ'…"—there are false prophets The lie was the religious movement to bring in a one-world religion. When you get to Revelation it's talking about worldwide events. How many times have we covered in Rev. the whole earth; all of the inhabitants thereof, etc.
• v 6—"…wars and rumors of wars…"—second seal that's opened War! War! War! What we are going to understand is this: the same sequence of events always happen. When there is war, what happens? You always have famine! You always have disease! When there are disasters, you have suffering, disease and death. He's explaining all of this in Matt. 24
• v 7—"For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in different places." The key thing is  that those things have continued going clear back to the Tower of Babel after the Flood. Those things have just repeated the cycle over and over and over again of all the civilizations of the world.
• v 9—"Then shall they deliver you up to affliction, and shall kill you…"—that's the martyrdom of the saints. When that happens they'll be:
• v 11—"...many more false prophets arise…"
• v 12—"…lawlessness shall be multiplied… [we're experiencing that right now—aren't we? Yes!] …the love of many shall grow cold."
• v 13—He gives a warning: "But the one who endures to the end, that one shall be saved."

Then you come down here to where He says when this is going to happen:

• v 15: "…when you see the abomination of desolation…standing in the Holy place…"

• Ties in directly with Rev. 6

• vs 29-30—ties in with the sixth seal: "…after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn…"

What we see is that all the way through history God uses the same method.

Let's see what He told Ezekiel, chapter 14, when he was warning the Jews and the children of Israel. God uses these things when people come to the point where:

• they won't listen
• they won't repent
• they won't return to God
• they will ridicule and scorn everything that God has said

We're reaching that point in this civilization today. Just to give you an example:

I had to go buy some shampoo and so here was this young clerk who had the exposed bellybutton and exposed down below the tight blouse there. I said, 'Would you please answer me a question if you won't be offended; I'm curious. Why do so many girls today dress like that and expose their midriff and their bellybutton.' She didn't get offended; she didn't get mad; she said, 'Well, we do it because we want to.' I didn't say anything beyond that. I just wanted to know why. She said, 'Besides, this is part of our freedom of expression.' I said, 'Okay, thank you.' I paid for my shampoo and left.

But notice what happened in the state of Oregon, in the Oregon State Supreme Court. They ruled that public sex acts of any sort are freedom of expression! When a society reaches a saturation of that thinking—and it's more saturated than we have comprehended when we understand that probably a third of the entire population of the United States are addicted to pornography in one form or another—sexual morality is out the window! Gone!

• What's going to happen?
• What always happens? God gives them a chance to repent. God gives them a chance to change their mind!
• If they don't, what happens? God executes His judgment!
• How does God execute His judgment? In many, many ways!

Ezekiel 14:12: "The Word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 'Son of man, when a land sins against Me…'" (vs 12-13). Not only does it affect other people, but Who is the One Who gave the Law? 'Sin is the transgression of the Law.'

"'…by trespassing grievously, and I stretch out My hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and will cut off man and beast from it. And though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, they should deliver only their own lives by their righteousness,' says the Lord GOD. 'If I cause wild beasts to come through the land, and they spoil it…'" (vs 12-15). We see more and more of that—don't we?

Have you seen the news reports in Florida that they have thousands of these driving-type lizards that get to be eight-feet long. And pythons! And now we have cougars coming right into our suburbs, and bears! So, if they don't repent, it just keeps going and going.

"…and it becomes desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts" (v 15)—and they spoil it. Think about another noisome [wild] beast that's very hard to get rid of, that's everywhere, in every big city, and in the country—rats!

If you have a chance to watch the History Channel and they show the one on swarms of bees; they will show about ants; and they will show about rats and mice. Rats and mice can multiply so quickly that they will be in huge swarms and there's no control! Add in some bubonic plague fleas and you are going to have a disaster that will spread like wildfire, everywhere! God does that as a result of punishment! A lot of people would say God is mean and evil. Well, He warned everyone—didn't He? He said, 'I set before you life and death, good and evil'—there it is!—even to people in the world

Verse 16—so they have 'noisome beasts': "'Though these three men werein its midst, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters. They only shall be delivered, but thee land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, "Sword, go through the land" so that I cut off man and beast from it'" (vs 16-17).

Let's think a little bit. Let's put things together as we're going through here, because what I want us to understand is not only how to understand the book of Revelation, but also how God operates. I'm going to have to say this. I think that what's happening in France with all the Muslim riots—not social things, but Muslim riots and burning and looting—is a test to see how far they can go. I believe after seeing all the things on immigration where they take pictures of men from South America and Asia and the Middle East crossing the border, walking in line, in file, carrying AK-47s with them. I believe that they will be in the United States, they will keep these weapons underground, they will gradually get more weapons, more explosives and at the 'set time' the same thing is going to happen to America that has happened to France—and it will happen everywhere all at once! That's how they're going to take down the United States. So, when God says the sword is going to come, it's going to come in a way that we don't expect.

Verse 18: "'Though these three men werein it, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off man and beast from it... [though they were there, they wouldn't save themselves.] …though Noah, Daniel and Job, were in it, as I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'they shall deliver neither son nor daughter. They shall only deliver their own souls by their righteousness.' For thus says the Lord GOD; 'How much more when I send My four judgments upon Jerusalem…'" (vs 18-21)—which He's going to send on the world.

Now, Jerusalem is a very interesting example for us to understand. Did God send Nebuchadnezzar to destroy it, and the temple, in 585B.C.? And carry off the last remnant of the Jews to Babylon? Yes, He did! Did God also do so in 70A.D. because of the rejection of Christ? Yes, He did! So we have an example of

• God's people
• God's city
• God's reaction

—to grievous sin. IF we are—which we are—the descendants of Israel today, we'd better sit up and take notice. Because, as we've said, how do you understand prophecy?

1. you need to know where the children of Israel are today—the 12 tribes
2. you need to know about the Church of God—who they are and where they are
3. you have to understand the Scriptures in the Bible
4. you have to put it together properly
5. then you can begin to understand

So here we have an example: Jerusalem, "…the sword…" [if you don't believe me, get out the book Josephus and read The Destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.—He covers both of them.

And by the way, to show that God is always on time, when He decides to do it, He does it! In both 585B.C. and 70A.D. Jerusalem fell on the 9th and 10th of Ab, after a siege! In reading about the history of the Church going beyond Paul—from 70A.D. to 100A.D.—and what Titus said when he finally scaled the northern wall and looked down on Jerusalem and into the temple area and saw all the dead and everything that went on. He said, 'We could not have done this without the help of God.' Now, the reason this is important is that since God has worked in the past in history, it shows that He's going to work in the future in His way, and this is what He's going to do.

He gives this promise: "'…the sword, and the famine, and the destroying beast, and the pestilence, to cut off man and beast from it Yet, behold… [whenever there's disaster there's always hope] …there shall be left a remnant in it that shall be brought out, bothsons and daughters. Behold, they shall come out to you, and when you shall see their ways and their doings, then you shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. And they shall comfort you when you see their ways and their doings. And you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it,' says the Lord GOD" (vs 21-22).

What do we see here? We see a pattern! You can find this in every part of the Bible, this same pattern. When God judges, He gives mercy! When He corrects the wicked, there is always the remnant! This is the remnant. What did He say to Elijah when Elijah said, 'I'm the only one left'? God said, 'There, there! Don't be downhearted, there are seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee to Baal.' So, there are a lot of people God is working with that we don't understand about.

Let's take this principle and let's apply it to the book of Revelation in the same way and see that the book of Revelation is designed in the same way. Right when the disasters come upon the world, right when it looks like everything is coming unglued—what is there? There's a space of mercy!

Right after all the events that are here; and you can talk about the heavens departing and you can listen to the sermons we've done on that where it talks about Hag. 2; Isa. 13, 24, 2—where God is going to shake the heavens and the earth. Right after He does that—what does He do? He gives a space of mercy—doesn't He?

Let's see this space of mercy, just like He said here in Ezek. 14, 'even though all these things are happening, there's a remnant that I'm going to be dealing with.' You can look at Ezek. 14 as a definition of the pattern of how God works.

• Matt. 24
• Ezek. 14
• Rev. 6

and many other places in the Bible.
We are dealing with worldwide events so then God gives mercy to millions of people. Don't you think that after all these events that have gone on, as they come down in time—and you can go through the time-setting of it as you go through the sermons in this series—then He gives mercy to show the whole world that in spite of all this He's a God of love and mercy and He wants repentance.

Then we have Rev. 7—the 144,000 from the children of Israel, and this opens up many other Scriptures that you find in the Old Testament. Notice how He starts out to fulfill a prophecy. God's Word is always true! What God has said, He will do! The key thing is because God doesn't deal in the time that we may think that needs to be done, doesn't mean that it isn't going to be done. It will!

Revelation 7:5: "From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand…" That fulfills a prophecy in:

• Zech. 12:7—The Lord also says, 'Save the tents of Judah first.'

Who is listed first here? Judah! When we understand the Word of God, we can understand the book of Revelation even more and that is because of the Word of God and the Spirit of God—can't be done any other way. It's not that we're geniuses. It's not that we have an inside track to God more than anyone else. But it's God's mercy and it's God giving the understanding—provided we love Him, keep His commandments, study the Bible the right way and prove the Truth.

Then he lists all the 12 tribes and there was a great, innumerable multitude! So we also see another principle that Paul enumerates. What is the principle that Paul enumerated concerning salvation? To the Jew first, which includes all Israel, then the Gentiles. So we have that principle right here.

Verse 9: "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one was able to number, out of every nation and tribe and people and language… [they're going to be saved] …was standing before the throne and before the Lamb…" This shows that at the resurrection they will be saved—that's what he's talking about here.

God always gives a space of mercy before increasing the disasters. This is what He did in the fall of Jerusalem. Josephus records, and other Jews recorded, that in 66A.D., on Pentecost, before the invasion and the war began, that the priest in the temple on the night shift were in there attending to their duties and all of a sudden there's a great light and they heard a voice say, 'Let us leave from here'—and the light departed and went up out of the temple. They were able to see it over the Mt. of Olives. That was a sign to the Jews: Get out of here before it's too late! And to the Christians to leave because God was going to fulfill the prophecy that Jerusalem would be destroyed. You can read of that in many places in the Bible and also in Matt. 20. Then the disaster happened. There was a chance ofmercy. We have the same parallel in Matt. 24: 'When you see the abomination of desolation stand in the Holy place' leave, flee to the mountains.' A chance to escape—right? What do we see in Rev. 12, tied in with Luke 17—that there is going to be remnant taken to a place of safety. God is going to do it.

That's what we find with Rev. 7—sandwiched in between chapters 6 & 8. We don't know how much time chapter 7 is going to involve, but let's think about between Pentecost and Trumpets, a space of about four months. Gives the world a little chance to recover from the events that happen there in Rev. 6. Gives a chance then for the 144,000 and the great, innumerable multitude to be converted, and they're converted in a special way. God seals them with His Spirit by the hand of an angel. There are no ministers there to baptize them, so God is going to take care of it Himself. There's the mercy!

Between one wave of disaster and the next more intense way is a time of mercy! Then what happens? The angels get involved! As we've described, they went through on Pentecost and also on the Feast of Trumpets—so we're not going to get involved in that and necessarily look at the verses there. The weapons that God is using here are the same weapons that He has always used (Rev. 16).

This is also borne out in the rest of the Bible, which is that the world today is governed and ruled over by angels—angels of God and angels of Satan. God uses both of them to fulfill His will!

Hebrews 2:2: "For if the word spoken by angels was enforced without fail, and every transgression and disobedience received just recompense." Then it talks about salvation and so forth.

Verse 5: "For it is not to the angels that He has placed in subjection the world that is to come, of which we are speaking." In the world today God rules and governs by angels. They are the unseen powers behind government, religion and all of the things that are there, giving man a space of free choice within that.

• 2-Kings 8 and the account of Elisha and seeing the armies of the angels—so God uses that. He also uses these weapons.

Let's just quickly summarize some the weapons that God uses with the angels. We see that in Rev. 8 & 9.

• Exo. 7:9: the rod became a serpent—magicians

This ties in with the religious leaders, the magicians, the false prophets shall show great signs and wonders. They can do 'signs and wonders.' You can also tie Pharaoh in with:

• 2-Thess. 2.

There are types all the way through the Bible.

What happened? The rod became a serpent and ate up the serpents that the magicians and priests were able to do and it became a rod again. Aaron took it and they went on their way.

• v 19: turning the waters into blood
• Rev. 8; 16.

Isn't it interesting that it starts out Rev. 8, beginning of the seven trumpet plagues—times two—Rev. 16, the seven last plagues—and follows the same sequence.

• Exo. 8:2-4: frogs—that's one of the things that they worshiped

Great frogs leaping, croaking everywhere. I love this one. Can you imagine that! Here you are sleeping in bed and all of a sudden you wake up and your room is filled with frogs—swarms of frogs! Jumping! Leaping! Croaking! And all the things that frogs do. Smelling! Slick! You wake up in bed and here's one of these giant Nile River frogs and he looks you right in the face and goes 'Whoook!' God has a little sense of humor, too. So, they finally got rid of them and they stunk like crazy. They still didn't repent!

• What are some of the pestilence?
• What are some of the beasts?
• Those also include insects!
• v 16—fleas and lice

God doesn't need anything they did. He's got very sophisticated weapons! Fleas and lice! The magicians finally gave up and said, 'We can't do this; this is in the hand of God.'

Everything that human beings despise and hate and irritate them; do you think they would repent? No!

• v 20—God said, 'Okay, you go out and you stand up there and what are they going to do this time? They're going to send swarms of flies!

Not just little, itty-bitty flies, but big, biting flies! Swarms! You know irritating it is when you've got one fly stuck in your car and you can't get rid of it. Or one mosquito trapped in your bedroom and you can't find it. And every time you're ready to go to sleep—eeeeeeee—and you miss it! That happened to me. I got so exasperated, I got up, I turned on the light, I chased everywhere in that room and I finally got the critter. But just one! Think of swarms! On your face, in your eyes, crawling up your nose, in your ears, everywhere! All the rotting and decaying things all around and they're having a huge feast on all these frogs that were stinking; all the animals that were dead. So, here are these huge swarms of flies! That got to them a little bit.

God also with the fifth one, which is the fifth sign—a sign of grace and mercy—spared the children of Israel beginning at that point.

• Exo. 9:3—murrain!

Came down like little dust. Can't get rid of it! That really got them. They still didn't repent. That's not enough, now God's going to send some more.

• v 18—Then He's going to do something such has not has been since Egypt was a nation—hail!

Hail doesn't come out of a clear sky. So there came clouds and thunder and lightning that ran 'as fire along the ground' (v 23). What do you find? The very last plague that God uses in:

• Rev. 16—hail!

A hundred-eighty pounds apiece. So, I expect that the hail here was probably varying in size of large softballs—destroyed everything!

What does it take for human beings to repent? For some of them it's almost impossible! That's why God does what He does. What the hail didn't destroy:

• Exo. 10:12—plagues of locust

You can't stop the swarms of locust. Everywhere, just covering the ground like huge monsters eating everything that there is. We find also the same thing in one of the seven last plagues there in:

• Rev. 16, the third plague. We have the signs and we have the plagues.

• Exo. 10:21—darkness! Thick darkness!

Couldn't even get out of their own places for three days.

• (Fourth plague)—killing of the firstborn.

So, what happens when we read and study the book of Revelation, and see how the angels are involved in the plagues of God; it ties in with all the Bible, that's the key and important thing to understand. This also tells us something important—'God is the same (as it says of Jesus) yesterday, today and forever.' Can any man resist the weapons of God—even the greatest weapons that they might have? No, the can't!

The keeping of the commandments of God are also in here.

Revelation 22:7: "…Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." You can't keep the prophecies because you're not the one to execute them. But this means that we're going to see.

Revelation 9 tells us about what we are to keep. In keeping, obviously, this means also to believe. But there are things we are to keep. You go back clear to the time when John was given the book of Revelation in vision, to write. How much of it did he understand? Virtually nothing! Down through history, how much have people been able to understand? Progressively a little more at a time as we come down toward our day! But here are the things to keep, which shows keeping the commandments of God and rejecting the things of Satan the devil.

Revelation 9:20: "But the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands…" Repentance entails what? I would like you to do to expand your understanding of Rev. and the Bible; do some word studies either on your computer or through a concordance of things like repent, repentance, turn from your ways. You will see all the way through the Bible that repentance is necessary; is part of what God wants. You can tie this in with John the Baptist; with the message of Jesus Christ:

• Mark 1:14—the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ, Who came into Galilee and said, 'Repent! For the Kingdom of God is at hand.'
• Luke 13—'unless you repent you shall likewise die.'

So here's repentance. These are part of the things that we are to keep.

"…that they might not worship demons… [gets into false gods, satanism] …and idols of gold and silver…" (v 20). You can take that as we have going back through the book of Isaiah and showing the futility of idolatry and everything that we've already covered.

"…and brass and stone and wood, which do not have the power to see, nor to hear, nor to walk. And they did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornications, nor of their thievery" (vs 20-21). What are we naming? Violations of the Word of God and the Ten Commandments of God! Violations of the things concerning satanism, demonism, sorcery, witchcraft—which we find where?

• Deut. 18
• Lev. 18

and other places in the Old Testament.

Let's look at it again; this is important because it's right at the end-time.

Revelation 12:17: "Then the dragon was furious with the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." That ties in with two things in the Old Testament:

• Psa. 111:10—a good understanding have they who keep His commandments
• Dan. 12—that, at the end-time, the wise—who are commandment-keepers—will understand

Those are the things we are keep. This is important to realize from this point of view: Understanding prophecy—though it is a part of what God gives us—comes from God when He wants us to understand it. The important thing is if you don't understand it, that does not deprive you from salvation as long as you do what it says here: to keep the things that are written in there, referring to the commandments of God. We have it defined right here. Then you can tie that in with what Jesus said, 'You want to enter into life? Keep the commandments! What John wrote. You've got the whole Gospel of John; 1st, 2nd, 3rd John. Do a word study: keeping the commandments, obedience, and so forth.

This one verse packs a lot in there. What is the testimony of Jesus Christ? He is Savior! He alone is the One that we can receive eternal life through:

• John 14:6: 'I am the way, the truth and the life'

That's the testimony of Christ. You can go back and read that in

• Matt. 23: 'Of His witness and testimony against the religionist of His time

—which also applies to the religionist of our time. You can take the testimony of Christ, because He was the Lord God of the Old Testament, you can go back and you can tie that in with all the witness and testimony that God gave through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, all the minor prophets. You can see how expansive the book of Revelation really is.

Revelation 14:12: "Here is the patience [endurance] of the saints; here are the ones who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." That's a powerful Scripture. Again, you can put that in with keeping the commandments, true; but the faith of Jesus tells us  that commandment-keeping and faith go hand-in-hand! If you believe God, which is faith, you will keep His commandments, and that is what Jesus said in John 14. That goes back to what God gave right at the beginning. You can really get excited when you start going through the book of Revelation and understand it from that point of view.

If the things you don't understand, you still believe what God has said, because He said it, then that's part of our faith. There are things we don't understand. Here's a perfect example here. This is really something!

Revelation 10:1: "Then I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven…" God rules and controls the world; carries out His will; executes His war through demons and angels.

"…clothed with a cloud, and with a rainbow on his head; and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like pillars of fire" (v 1). Don't ask which angel this is, we don't know, God didn't tell us; but this is what John saw:

Verse 2: "And he had in his hand a little book that was open. And he placed his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the earth… [That's quite a thing!] ….and cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars…. [I can't imagine that! But that's what he saw!] …And when he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders spoke with their voices, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Seal what the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them'" (vs 2-4).

This means there are things reserved only for God. How terrible and awesome the seven thunders spoke, we don't know. Here's a clue: Since God said 'don't write them' if any man comes and tells you 'I can tell you what the seven thunders are,' you know he's a false prophet; because how can he know unless God had it written down! He cannot know! This also tells us that God reserves certain things to Himself. So then, this comes down to a time close to when the resurrection is going to occur.

Revelation 11—two witnesses. There are many, many things in here, and this ties in with the temple to be built, the temple that has been. This ties in with the prophecies in:

• Zech. 3 & 4. It tells us who the two witnesses will be.

Since they will be in Jerusalem, and we'll just summarize the whole thing this way: God is going to call and choose the two witnesses, no church, no board of men, no men together will stand up and say 'we are the two witnesses.' Or as one man said, 'I am the two witnesses, since the one that I said would be the second witness was not resurrected when I said he would be, I will be the two witnesses.'

Please know and understand this: To the Jews in Jerusalem they will only listen to their own. So therefore, as I've given in a sermon The Two Witnesses and Elijah, they will be the high priest in the temple, which the temple will be rebuilt, and the governor of Judea—religious and civil. They will be the two witnesses and they are going to have extraordinary power, greater than any men have ever had in the history of the whole world.

It's going to frustrate the New World Order—the beast, the false prophet—and we have two witnesses! Against whom? The beast and the false prophet! What did we read in the book of Exodus? Two witnesses: Moses and Aaron! Moses the civil leader, plus a priest, plus a Levite; and Aaron who was to be the high priest. But Moses was the civil ruler and leader. Two witnesses against Pharaoh, a type of the beast, and the magicians, a type of the false prophet and the many false prophets. So, we have a repeat. God again, working the same way, only instead of just against the nation of Egypt—it is against the whole world!

After they have been killed—God will allow them to be killed—Revelation 11:8 "And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt…" This tells us the morals of the whole world; the religion is Egypt, the morals are like Sodom and Gomorrah. But it also ties in again and you can bring those things together.

We won't go through Rev. 12 because I've covered that quite extensively in another sermon. Rev. 13 we've covered many, many times over, but what's important to realize is this—you can even look in your margin in relationship to the Old Testament. The book of Daniel repeated, repeated, repeated; the book of Daniel becomes very, very important. We cover that in great detail. This ties in with 2-Thess. 2, as well.

Then we have the one concerning the false prophet, then the mark of the beast, the last half of Rev. 13. We couldn't understand the mark of the beast until the time when it was possible to understand how the mark can be enforced with the technology that we have today.

Revelation 14—we've talked about the 144,000—there's a sermon in this series and also we have an article/sermons on Who are the 144,000? This group is different from the group in Rev. 7. Isn't it interesting, we have Rev. 8 times 2 is 16—chapter 8 is the beginning of the seven trumpet plagues times 2 is 16, which are the seven last plagues. So we have Rev. 7, which is a space of mercy and the 144,000; then we have Rev. 14, which is 2 times 7, and we have the other 144,000 listed.

Also in Rev. 14, I had wondered about this for a long time—in doing the chart on Rev. 14—where do the themes of those messages occur in time? I wondered, because in reading Rev. 14 it appears to be very, very late down into the chronology, but not so! I think this ties in early on. You can look at the chart, I have it just right after the Tribulation begins.

Revelation 14:6: "And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and language and people." Why would God have an angel do that? When you start reading all the things that happen in Rev. 6: the wars, the famine, the pestilence and everything that goes on, there're not going to be preachers running around saying 'repent!' There are going to be the two witnesses in Jerusalem and the this angel will give the message.

Verse 7: "Saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory to Him, because the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him Who made the heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.' Then another angel followed, saying, 'The great city Babylon is fallen, is fallen, because of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, which she has given all nations to drink.' And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives the mark in his forehead or in his hand, he shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed undiluted in the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented in fire and brimstone in the sight of the Holy angels, and of the Lamb'" (vs 7-10).

When does the warning come from the angel concerning the mark of the beast? It can't be way down into the Tribulation because they start enforcing it right at the beginning of the Tribulation. So, this has to be a warning at the beginning of the Tribulation. It could not come way down after the Tribulation begins. But when do they start enforcing it? It would have to be, otherwise it wouldn't make any sense. Why give the warning, after the fact, and a person already has it? If any man receive the mark of the beast and so forth!

Verse 11: "And the smoke of their torment ascends into the ages of eternity and those who worship the beast and his image, and all who receive the mark of his name, have no rest day and night." This has got to be when it is given.

Verse 13: "And I heard a voice from heaven say to me, 'Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from this time forward….'" This has got to be at the beginning of the Tribulation and no later than the time of the fifth seal of the martyrdom of the saints. This also ties in with:

• Rev. 12 about Satan coming to make war against the 'remnant of His seed,' to kill them.

This has to be early on. If you look at the chart you will see that I have it right when the Tribulation begins; otherwise, it wouldn't make any sense.

"…'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from this time forward. Yes, says the Spirit, so that they may rest from their labors; and their works follow them'" (v 13). That's the only place where I could figure out where to put it. If you have it too far down into the Tribulation, it doesn't make sense to have it there. How many saints are going to die, say, in the last two months before? Not many!

Rev. 15—which we thoroughly covered. As you go through the series you will see we cover the Holy Days, on Pentecost, on Trumpets; how this all ties in with various parts of the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Rev. 16—the seven last plagues

Rev. 17—about the beast that was, and is not, and yet, is; the judgment of Babylon: that goes back to the Tower of Babel coming clear unto the time of Nebuchadnezzar, coming clear into the time of this One World Order that is coming: Babylon the Great!

• Ezekiel
• Jer. 50-51

—and there's some things in Jer. that have not been completed.

Rev.18—covers the whole judgment of Babylon—depicted by the city. But that city does what? Controls the kings of the earth. So this expands out to a whole worldwide thing.

Rev. 19—getting set to return to the earth

Rev. 20—we have the understanding that is given concerning Atonement and Tabernacles and the Last Great Day.

Rev. 21—we move on into God's plan for the beginning of all eternity.

As you go through and you study all of these things, tie it in, as much as you can, with other parts of the Bible, because that's how you're going to understand the book of Revelation.

Those are the keys to understanding Revelation. It must not be read in isolation.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order, A Faithful Version by Fred R. Coulter

Scriptural References (quoted)
Secondary Scriptures (not quoted):

• Revelation 6:1-2, 8
  • Acts 1:6
  • Rev. 6:4-8
• Revelation 6:8
  • Rev. 6:9, 12-13
• Matthew 24:4-7, 9, 11-13, 15, 29-30
  • Rev. 6
• Ezekiel 14:12-22
  • Matt. 24
  • Rev. 6
• Revelation 7:5
  • Zechariah 12:7
• Revelation 7:9
  • Matthew 20; 24
  • Revelation 12
  • Luke 17
• Hebrews 2:2, 5
  • 2 Kings 8
  • Exodus 7:9
  • 2 Thess. 2
  • Exo. 7:19
  • Rev. 8, 16
  • Exo. 8:2-4, 16, 20
  • Exo. 9:3, 18, 23
  • Rev.16
  • Exo. 10:12, 21
• Exo. 10:21
  • Rev. 16
• Revelation 22:7
• Revelation 9:20-21
  • Mark 1:14
  • Luke 13
  • Deut. 18
  • Lev. 18
• Revelation 12:17
  • Psa. 111:10
  • Dan.12
  • John 14
  • Matt. 23
• Revelation 14:12
  • John 14
• Revelation 10:1-4
• Revelation 11:8
  • Zech. 3, 4
• Revelation 14:6
  • Rev. 6
• Revelation 14:7-11, 13
  • Revelation 12

Scriptures reference, not quoted:

• Haggai 2
• Isaiah 13; 24;2
• Revelation 12, 13
• 2 Thessalonians 2
• Revelation 13-17
• Ezekiel
• Jeremiah 50-51
• Ezekiel
  • Revelation 18-21

Also referenced:

Book: Josephus
Sermons: the Two Witnesses & Elijah
Article & Sermons: Who Are the 144,000?

FRC:bo
Transcribed: 1-18-10
Reformatted: 3/2014