The end has come, the seal judgments, the trumpet judgments, and the bowl judgments have been poured out. John is now taken away in the spirit and showed the desolation and destruction of the religious, political, and economic system (Chapters 17-18). In chapter 19, the Lord Himself comes back and judges Satan and the Beast and establishes His kingdom. There is a lot of symbolism that is used here by John. That is because he is trying to encourage all the believes living in the church age, or the period of the church. The bride of Christ, or the wife of the Lamb:

Revelation 19:7-8 (NKJV)

7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready." 8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Paul was determined to reach as many people for Christ as possible. He faced all odds and opposition, yet it never stopped him from preaching the news of Christ and the resurrection. Christian’s need to be courage’s to share their faith with everyone, even it it isn’t popular.

The opening of verse Hebrews 12:25 gives a one warning sentence:

Hebrews 12:25 (NKJV)

25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks...

God’s word is all powerful, and He has spoken all things into existence. From the very beginning God spoke and it was. So the God who speaks should not be refused because He is the only one who can offer eternal life. We have the creation account in Genesis chapter 1. God Spoke and it came into existence. After He formed man and woman He said that all He created was very good:

Genesis 1:28–31

Two Paths of Life

There is only one of two paths that you will follow in this life. One leads to death, the other to life. Eventually, everyone comes to a fork in the road in which a decision has to be made. There is a path that leads to destruction and a path that leads to life. Jesus told us that we must chose which path to take:

Matthew 7:13–14 (NKJV)

13 “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. 14 Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

We have been on-looking to the future age to come, we have examined the antichrist, his abomination when he sets himself up in the holy of holies, claims to be god and demands the world worship him. This will happen in the second part of the tribulation.

However, you will notice that during this time, one of the greatest revivals of all time will take place. It will happen as the enemy (Satan) tries to devour those who will not turn to worship him.

As stated in the study of Chapter 7 above, there has been much about the 144,000, who they are, and their purpose. When you hear about the 144,000, what is it that you think of first?

Paul never let an opportunity go to waste. Not matter if he was in prison, hungry, or beaten, He always presented the gospel of Christ. We should do the same. Make every opportunity time to share the gospel.

The writer of Hebrews has made his case about faith. What it is, examples of people who lived by faith, what to do with it, how to live by it, and where is leads the true believer. Then he pauses from all of that and talks about the discipline of God. He wants people to know that if you are disciplined by God, then you are legitimate sons and daughters of God. He points out that a father who loves their children discipline. He writes it so that you can see the all you go through in your Christian walk is there to grow you in your faith. He wants you to see that you shouldn’t despise the chastening of the Lord because His chastening proves that you belong to him. Don’t be angry with God for the things He allows in your life, be grateful because He is training you. Let it build you faith, let it make your stronger, and that is why the writer ends with verse eleven:

The Anti-Christ came as a peace maker and as we have seen, he will make peace for the first half of the tribulation. We know from Daniel’s prophecy that (Daniel 9:27) a covenant will be made, and pseudo peace will be enacted. At some point, the temple will be rebuilt and the original worship rituals will have been restored (Rev 11:1). However, in the middle of the tribulation, the antichrist will break this treaty or covenant and bring an end to all the ceremonial rituals and set himself up in the temple as god (Dan 9:27, 2nd Thes 2:1-12)

Live is a walk of difficulties, it is a fallen world plagued with problems, suffering, and disappointments. But you must remember why it is this way. God didn’t separate Himself from us, we separated ourselves from Him. From the very moment in the garden when sin entered the world, death and struggles in this world began. everything became cursed, not because of what God did, but because of what man did.

When you hold back on God you basically tell God that you don’t trust in Him for His provisions and so you only give a portion of your fully offering. The reason many people don’t bring the full offering to God is because they haven’t allowed for it in their personal budget and finances. This is obvious by how you manage your wealth or your money. The reason you don’t have enough money to properly give to God is because your eyes and heart are on the things of the world and not on the things of God and therefore you have spent you money on the worlds wealth and not of heaven. You have spent all your money on credit cards and debt and there is nothing left to give to God so you only give Him a portion of what is left over, if anything, and expect God to bless you and count it as righteousness because you feel you are sacrificing when in reality you’ve spent your money on worldly things rather than on the heavenly things.

John 3:5-6 (NKJV)

5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Many Church splits are caused by selfish ambitions, envy, power, disagreements and personal reasons. There are some legitimate splits such as within the United Methodist church about homosexuality and clergy is concerned. it would be reasonable to leave that church or denomination because homosexuality is an abomination to God and we shouldn’t associate with it. So there is a time where it may be necessary to split, but if that happens, be sure God calls for it and that it is done for the right reason.

Don’t Set your sights on earthly things but on heavenly things. This life it too short to build your kingdom here, for it will all be destroyed. If you build your things on the heavenly places, it will last forever.