THE REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST

INTRODUCTION – Part 1

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

Would you be willing to momentarily risk setting aside all your doctrinal beliefs and preconceived ideas concerning things like the End Times, the Last Days, the Mark of the Beast, Armageddon, Antichrist, the Great Red Dragon, the Locust Army, the Four Horses of the Apocalypse, Thunder and Lightning and Hail, Lions and Leopards and Bears, oh my, and seriously entertain the possibility that the book called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” is just that, THE REVELATION of JESUS CHRIST?

Hold that pure thought while we consider what the actual implications of that might be.

First of all, the word “revelation” is translated from the Greek word “apokalupsis” (from which we get our English word apocalypse) which means to uncover, to unveil, to take the lid off. It does not mean, nor has it ever meant or been synonymous in any way with, catastrophe or cataclysm or destruction. Again, it simply means to “reveal". It follows then, that if there is an uncovering or revealing of something to us, that that something must be hidden from our view… as in unseen, else it would not need to be unveiled would it?

Ok then, what is the veiled or unseen thing in the book of the revealing that is to be revealed? The question should actually be “Who” not “what, because the answer is… Jesus Christ! That’s right. The subject throughout the entire book is THE Revelation (not revelations) of Jesus Christ, and all those things mentioned in the first paragraph are all symbolic, or shall I say spiritually encrypted, components of things that are relative to His revealing.

Furthermore, that revealing is not given to any old Tom the Preacher, Dick the Bible Student, or Harry the Scholar, who tries to study it and figure it all out with eyes that only look to and see the outer world, though they sincerely believe themselves to have “eyes to see”. No, it is not for the world to understand either, nor is it even possible for the world to comprehend, but rather The Revelation of Jesus Christ is given to His servants (Rev. 1:1), to those who can hear His voice (Rev. 1:10), to those who have overcome the seven churchisms of Rev. 2 & 3 and can “hear what the spirit has to say”, for they are His spirit led sons & daughters. Rom 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Now prepare yourself for this next statement, which is the most profound implication of all that has been said thus far: If those things which are contained in the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ have been revealed to YOU, then YOU have “seen” Jesus Christ… for He has revealed Himself to you! Furthermore, if you have seen the Son, you have seen the Father (Jn 14:9). Of course that leaves only one of two possibilities. Either you have or you haven’t! More on that later.

One thing however should be visible to every Christian regardless of his or her sect, denomination, or elect status, something to which all can set aside his or her religious and doctrinal biases and agree in multi-partisan unison is the whole truth and nothing but the truth… for it is undisputedly confirmed by the past two thousand years of recorded history. And that is the fact that for those nearly two thousand years now, preachers, priests, pastors, and Bible enthusiasts at large, have all proclaimed that they were living in the last days and that the return of Jesus Christ was imminent in their generation.

To wit, it’s been said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result”. Well, at great risk of being labeled a non-believer or heretic (though I’ve been called worse), I will nevertheless be so bold as to point out that these preachers have been proclaiming the very same thing with only slight variances over and over and over for two thousand years and… it ain’t happened the way they said it would yet! I mean, you would think the old law of success by trial and error would have kicked in here somewhere along the way. For sure such a documented track record dispels the myth that if you throw enough script up against the wall some of it will stick. None of it has, nor will it for those who still proclaim the visible imminent return of “the main man” on this and that channel week after week, year after year, decade after decade, century after century, and millennium after millennium.

Hey, when God hides or veils something from man, you can count on the reality that man cannot find it on his own no matter how hard he tries… for don’t you know that the things of God and the riches of His Christ are unsearchable by the carnal mind of man (Eph 3:8).

Now lest you think I’m being judgmental of Christians or their preachers or pastors, let me make my confession right here and now. Until April 24^th, 2005, at which point I was in my mid-fifties, I was among the many preachers and pastors who came in Christ’s name teaching the traditions of men, including the “traditional” Jesus (as a man), i.e. “saying Jesus is Christ” (again, pointing to figure of a man), thereby participating in the prophecy of perpetuating the deception of many… exactly as it is written in Mat 24:5: For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

But then suddenly the light was turned on from above and I could now “see” what was once veiled in the darkness of my (carnal, earthly) mind as I came face to face with the abomination of desolation, the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2, who was right there standing in the temple where he ought not (Mark 13:14), yea, defiling the temple of God… just like Daniel said he would.

If you can’t relate to what I’m talking about, that’s ok. I can only tell you about my experiences but I can in no way give you my experiences, as in impart them you. Neither can you give me yours. If I have had a similar experience to one you have had, or we’ve gone through the same thing together, then I can totally relate to what you tell me, and I will KNOW in my being, from the experience written and documented in my heart, that what you are saying is true indeed. If I haven’t had an experience like one you are telling me about, at best I can believe in my mind that what you tell me is true. Knowing and believing are not the same thing, just as your heart and mind are not the same thing. One is of the earth and other is of the heaven. Many people believe (of the mind, earthly) in God, but they do not know (of the heart, heavenly) Him. In fact, your mind can be filled with the knowledge of every scripture in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and mine pretty much was 3 ½ years ago as of this writing, and still have no KNOWLEDGE of God. I know this to be true from firsthand experience as they say.

Hope that makes at least some “earthly” sense to you. To that end, please know that I am not trying give you wisdom and knowledge and wittingly interpret the Book of Revelation for you. Truly only Jesus Christ, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, can reveal the things of the spirit, heavenly things, to you. And dear ones, your mind (which is carnal, meaning of the earth) cannot receive the Spirit of Truth and in fact, He does not comes to your mind, but rather to your heart, His domain, the very temple of God, which is the very center of your being.

In fact, I can also tell you from firsthand experience what happens to the mind (the earth) when the Lord comes suddenly to His temple (which temple you are). There is sudden destruction of the earth! My mind was totally scrambled (talk about a mind blowing experience)! In other words, the earth (my mind) truly became a desolate place, tohu va bohu in the Hebrew tongue, but I found myself with a new heart. The old heaven (heart) and the old earth (mind) did indeed pass away.

And so it is that the carnal mind, the flesh mind of man, operates in the same earthly dimension as your eyeballs and therefore sees only and relates only to the things of this world. It CANNOT see the things of the spirit which is why it doesn’t matter how great a scholar you are… your MIND cannot see Christ. He is “veiled” to the world, which is what our minds are of! Again, that is why you cannot understand the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ by “studying” it… because you cannot SEE HIM, even by sincerely trying to. With God as my witness I now know that to be true, because I sincerely tried and tried all my life. May the Father give you the Spirit of Truth, that He may abide with you forever. Then you shall KNOW HIM and “see” Him as He truly is… because He dwells in you!

Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world (your mind) cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.

That’s right. He dwells with you and IN YOU because YOU ARE HIS HOUSE, His dwelling place, one of the many MANSIONS (Man-Zions), dwelling places, in the FATHER’s HOUSE (Jn. 14:3)! Know ye not that YOU are the temple of God.

1 Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

So tell me. Do you believe some variation of the popular traditional teaching that has been tried and tested for 2000 years and found to be nothing but myth and the culmination of the vain imaginations of men, that some antichrist is going to appear in a temple in Jerusalem… over there in the land of Israel, perhaps at the sound of the 6^th Trump? Well, I sure did and worse yet, God forbid, I taught it to multiple thousands! But once you come to understand that your mind not only cannot “see” things are spiritual, but it also cannot “hear” things that spiritual, then perhaps you’ll cease imagining you are somehow going to see Christ coming in literal clouds with your eyes or hear the SOUND of a trumpet with your ears!

So… where will one eventually find the “man” of sin who defiles the temple (which temple you are) by sitting on the throne (of your heart, in the very midst of God’s House) claiming to be god, the one who is in control of the whole world (your world). Well, try looking inwardly, INSIDE the temple! You might even try standing in front of a mirror… as a visual aid of course.

1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Oh yes, there will be some house cleaning taking place, a real cleansing of the temple, a casting down and dethroning take place when the Lord comes suddenly to His temple. When will that take place in your life, only the Father knows. For some, it has already taken place.

… to be continued.