Part I ~ Lesson 1 of 6 – The Secret of Understanding Revelation

The Sequence of Endtime Events

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the prophecies of the End Times …

Our next sequence of lessons is broken into 5 Parts. These lessons will be answering the most frequently asked question:

What is going to happen, and When?

Now that we understand the Seven Trumpets; understand the USA in the Bible and the Four Beasts of Daniel; understand the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse; understand World War III; understand the Holy Roman Empire Reborn; etc, we will now see how everything will line up.

In these next several lessons I am going to try and answer that question for you. I will not just be speculating or guessing, but will actually take the Bible scriptures and credible evidence to establish very good proofs.

Dear Ones, we are living in the time of the end. Jesus spent Matthew 24 speaking great prophecies that are repeated in Daniel, Revelation, and other scriptures in the Bible. Understand This ... This generation is the generation Jesus spoke of in Mattew 24:34 when He said:

“Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.”

It's given to us to understand, or God would not have written it. In the Book of Revelation, He told John the things to write and the things not to write. If God didn't want us to know it, He kept John from writing it. If He allowed John to write it, then that indicates to us that God wanted us to know it. The minds of this generation are understanding what the Bible has to tell us. The prophecies are unfolding before our eyes. Those who have ears to hear, let him hear.

If God wanted us to understand all these things, why did He put it in such symbolism?

Jesus always taught in parables and the disciples became frustrated with Him. The asked Him, “Why do you always teach in parables?” [A parable is a story that reveals truth to one person while veiling truth from another person.]

Matthew 13:11 says:

“He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you [speaking of the believers] to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them [speaking of the wicked] it is not given.”

God veils what He has to say so that only those that seek, find. If we are nonchalant, a no caring person who doesn't really hunger after the truth, we can live right through these prophecies. They will go right over our heads.

That's what happened at the First Coming of Jesus Christ. They had at least 100 specific prophecies of His First Coming. He fulfilled every single one of them in the most incredible detail, whether you talk about that He had to be born in Bethlehem; that He had to flee to Egypt to save His life; that He had to be born of the tribe of Judah; that He had to be sold for 30 pieces of silver. The exact amount of money was given in the Old Testament 600 years before the event. Not only that, but what would be done with the money was also prophesied.

The point is, they had about 100 prophecies of Jesus Christ's First Coming. We have about 1,000 prophecies of His Second Coming and they are all coming to pass right now.

The problem is this … Most of us have lived through several of these Trumpets and we don't have a clue. They lived through the prophecies and they still crucified the Messiah who fulfilled every one of them. As we go through the sequence of the endtime events and we acquire this understanding, it is so critical to all of us that we not miss the Second Coming. They missed the First Coming ~ we don't want to miss the Second Coming. It's wonderful that God has made His prophecies available to us in His Word, the Bible.

Scripture tells us that this is the time to be teaching prophecy to people. Daniel 11:33 says:

“And they that understand among the people [referring to the time of the end] shall instruct many ...”

Scripture tells us what Jesus had to say about the written prophecies. Jesus said in John 13:19:

“Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.”

Prophecy can make us understand that the Word of God, the Bible, can be depended on. It can be trusted.

There have been so many books written about the Book of Revelation. Some of them vary, radically, one from the other. God did not give us the Book of Revelation just to tantalize us. He gave us this book for someone to understand.

There are a couple of secrets to understanding the Book of Revelation. Many people think that no one can understand it; that the Book of Revelation is not for us to understand. Daniel 12:8-9 says:

“And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?

And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”

We need to realize we are in that time, right now. We are the people of the time of the end. That is why we can understand things, now, that other generations have not been able to understand.

There are many questions that people have regarding the prophecies of the Bible. I am going to try to answer many of them here. We are going to discuss the structure of the Book of Revelation. We will deal with the Seals, the Trumpets and the Vials. We will deal with the Great Tribulation and the Wrath of God. These are two seperate events and we will discuss the difference between them. We will deal with the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. We will wrap this all up in a Timeline of the End Times as we see how all this meshes together.

The most asked question is:

What is going to happen and when?

What will the sequence of the events be?

All these things are rooted in scripture. We can prove so many things. As we approach the end time, the closer we get, the clearer we can see.

There are two major secrets to understanding the Book of Revelation.

Revelation 1:19 says:

“Write the things which thou has seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;”

A lot of people think the Book of Revelation is all futuristic. This scripture plainly tells us that there are three categories:

1. The things that thou hast seen
2. The things that are
3. The things that shall be hereafter

John recorded the things he saw; the things he experienced:

He saw a vision of Jesus Christ. He saw Him as the Ancient of Days, His hair was white as snow, His eyes as flames of fire.

Then in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, there were messages given to 7 churches that existed right then. Some people have made these messages to the churches prophetic, however, I personally do not think these messages are prophetic because at this point ~ John is recording “the things which are”.

There were 7 churches existing in Asia Minor. [That's what it was called then. Today it is called Turkey.] John, at the time, was on the Isle of Patmos maybe 50 or 100 miles off of the coast of Asia Minor. He was in exile for preaching the gospel. God chooses in this time to give him messages for those 7 churches.

History tells us that John did not die on the Isle of Patmos. He escaped the exile, returned back to Asia Minor and became the overseer of these 7 churches.

These were 7 messages written to 7 churches that existed at that time. John delivered those messages when he came out of the exile to those 7 churches.

Moving to the third category ~ The things shall be hereafter ~ Revelation 4:1 says:

“After this I looked, and behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.”

The first big key to unlocking the Book of Revelation is that at Revelation 4:1, we move into the prophetic part of Revelation. Once you understand that, it opens up a tremendous amount to us because some people have thought that the entire Book of Revelation is prophetic. If you take that view point, it can be very confusing.

People have theorized that each of the churches in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3 represent a segment of the Church Age and that we are the people of the 7^th church, the Laodician Church.

Starting with the Ephesian Church Age that ran for 100 - 150 years. The message to the Ephesians was, “You have left your first love.” It goes all the way through the 7 churches until it culminates at the 7^th church, the Laodician Church Age. The message to the church of Laodicia was, “You are rich; increased with goods; have need of nothing. Therefore, I would that you were hot or cold but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

Many people believe that the Laodician Church is the church of the end time. I don't see any basis for that because you can take any of the messages to any of the other churches and preach to any of our churches today. You can easily preach to them, “You have left your first love.” This is something so easy for all of us to do. So to say just the Ephesians had that problem and we don't have that problem would be totally erroneous.

You could have preached to churches in Paul's day the message to the Laodicians, “I would that you were hot or cold but because you are lukewarm, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

Yes, these messages apply to our churches, today. It is critical that we don't leave our first love, or are lukewarm and indifferent.

That's the theory of Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, but in my opinion, there is no solid scriptural basis. And it's only a theory because they have overlooked Revelation 4:1, which begins the “hereafter” part.

Moving forward, we will discuss the prophetic part of the Book of Revelation.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 6 of 6 – Kingdom of God

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

The Bible also tells us in Isaiah 65:20 that life spans will be elongated back to the way they were in the beginning of time. It says:

“... for the child shall die an hundred years old ...”

Can you imagine going to a funeral (there will be funerals during the millennium because there will be mortals on earth), they ask, “How old was he?”

The answer may be, “Oh, he was 100. Just a kid.”

People will again live like they did in the beginning. Remember how Methuselah lived 969 years? Adam lived over 900 years. That's the way it's going to be during the millennial reign of Jesus Christ.

There is another thing I love to think about …

The Bible teaches us that Satan is going to be bound during the entire 1,000 years. Can you imagine a world without a devil? It is going to be a wonderful situation.

The majority of people serve Satan now because he's the god of this age. When he's bound, the majority of people will serve God, instead.

What happens after the 1,000 years of peace, the millennium? Revelation 20:7-8 tell us:

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”

Satan's loosed. He goes out once again and begins to spread his deceit. He's able, once again, to deceive the nations, Gog and Magog [referring to Russia] in particular. The Bible tells us that he will influence them to come down against Jesus Christ at Jerusalem.

Why in the world does God loose Satan? The only answer I can come up with is that before he culminates everything, he wants the people who live during the millennium to once again have free choice between himself and Satan. If He's [Jesus Christ] going to take people into eternity with eternal life, He wants to make sure that they have chosen of their own free will to follow Him.

In Revelation 20:9, when the armies of Gog and Magog come down against Jesus Christ, the Bible says:

“And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city [Jerusalem]: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.”

God said, “Enough already. I'm not putting up with this anymore.” The enemies of Jesus Christ will be consumed by fire from heaven.

Revelation 20:10 then tells us:

“And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Satan joins the Antichrist and the False Prophet. Remember, they were cast into the lake of fire 1,000 years before. The Bible says, “They will be tormented day and night for ever and for ever.”

Then comes the Great White Throne Judgement. Revelation 20:11-12 says:

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things that were written in the books, according to their works.”

All people who were not in the rapture that do not already have eternal life, are going to come before this Great White Throne of Judgment. It's here that they are going to be judged according to their works. I don't know exactly how that judgment is going to be, but I know it will be just because God, who sits on the throne, who knows all things and will make perfect judgment in all matters, will determine the eternal destination of all people at that time.

Finally, in Revelation 20:13-15, it says:

“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Remember in Revelation 20:6 it says:

“Blessed and holy [those who made the Rapture] is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power...”

Whatever you do, make sure you are in the first resurrection. You will not have to appear before the Great White Throne of Judgment. You will have received eternal life over 1,000 years before that particular time.

What happens after the Great White Throne of Judgment? Ephesians 3:21 refers to it:

“Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughtout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

We know that when fire falls from heaven, it consumes the mortals. That will be the end of humanity as we know it. The human experiment will be over. God will have brought out of humanity this special group of people that actually will be His bride that will rule and reign with Him during the millennium.

Not just during the millennium. We don't know what all God's plans are, but God has big plans for us beyond what we know now.

WORLD WITHOUT END. AMEN.

If you want to be a part of the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ said, Himself,

“Except a person is born again, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.”

Whatever you do, I hope you will make sure you understand what being born again is really all about. That's what it takes for you to be a part of this eternal Kingdom.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 5 of 6 – Kingdom of God

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

Zechariah 14:9 tells us

“And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.”

God is not going to be called by many different names. It's not going to be Brahma, or Allah, or Jehovah, or Jesus. No. There is going to be one Lord. His Name one ~ The Lord Jesus Christ ~ King of kings and Lord of lords.

I'm sure you are wondering what's going to happen to Israel during the millennium. Romans 11:25-26 tell us:

“For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

And so all Israel, shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:”

All of Israel that survives the Great Tribulation, the wrath of God, and the Battle of Armageddon shall be saved. The sad news is two-thirds of them will be destroyed. The latter part of Zechariah 13 tells us that. But the one-third that survives will be saved to live into the millennium under the rule of Jesus Christ and His church.

The Bible tells us in Matthew 19:27-28:

“Then answered Peter and said unto him [Jesus], Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

And Jesus said unto them [Peter and the Apostles], Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

It's going to be so interesting to see the Apostles on those 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel during the millennium.

Isaiah 2:2-3 tells us:

“ And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains [the Lord's headquarters during the millennium], and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.”

I can't tell you whether there is going to be a literal house of the Lord there; whether there will be a literal temple or not. I know that the Bible teaches that our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost and that God no longer dwells in temples made with hands. We know that the church is called the new Jerusalem. I can't tell you if it will be a literal temple or a spiritual temple. It doesn't matter to me. All I know is I want to be a part of what God is doing at that time.

In Isaiah 2:4, it tells us more:

“And he [Jesus Christ] shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nations shall not lift up sword agains nations, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Think of it. They are going to take all the implements of war and turn them to productive use. Furthermore, they won't even learn war anymore. There's not even going to be a military. It's going to be peace on earth. Imagine a world with no war.

It's going to be absolutely wonderful. It's all because the Prince of Peace is now with us.

More information about the millennium and what it will be like is found in Isaiah 11:6-10:

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den.

They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse [speaking of Jesus], which shall stand for an ensign [a banner] of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.”

Not even animals are going to kill each other. Think of that. There is going to be safety and security. There is going to be peace on earth, good will toward men.

The earth is going to be full of the knowledge of the Lord. What is the knowledge of the Lord? That's His nature ~ love your enemies ~ do good to those that despitefully use you. Those are the principles that will rule the entire world in the coming Kingdom of God. The earth is going to be at rest ~ God's rest. The Bible says it's going to be glorious.

Who is going to populate the earth in the millennium? The answer is found in the prophecy about the nations that will be on the earth at the time of the Second Coming. Daniel 7:11-12 says:

“... I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

As concerning the rest of the beasts [remember beasts are symbols of nations], they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.”

Great Britain, United States, 1/6^th of Russia and the other Nations in Daniel 7 will live into the millennium.

Why 1/6^th of Russia? Because Ezekiel 39 tells us that 5/6^th of Russia will be destroyed. Whether that means 5/6^th of the Russian Army or 5/6^th of the entire nation of Russia, I don't know. This will be her penalty for leading the charge against Israel at the Battle of Armageddon.

There is a possibility that children will not be responsible for the decision of their parents. I don't know that for sure. Back when Israel refused to go into the Promised Land in the Old Testament, all below the age of 20 were not held responsible for the decision of their parents and they were allowed to go into the Promised Land.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 4 of 6 – Kingdom of God

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

Finally, we have a plan of salvation. The interesting thing is Satan always tries to imitate the “Plan of Salvation”. I call Satan's plan “The Plan of Damnation”.

Plan of Plan of

Salvation Damnation

1. Repentance 1. Worship the Beast
2. Baptism in 2. Receive the
   Jesus name mark of the beast
3. Infilling of the 3. Demon
   Holy Spirit possession

The first step of the Plan of Salvation is worship Jesus as Lord. You repent. You accept Him as your Lord.

The first step of the Plan of Damnation according to Revelation 13:15 is that you must worship the beast, the Antichrist.

The second step of the Plan of Salvation is you take the name of Jesus in baptism.

The second step of the Plan of Damnation is you take the name of the Antichrist. Revelation 13:17 says:

“You receive the mark of his name.”

The third step of the Plan of Salvation is you are filled with the Holy Spirit.

The third step of the Plan of Damnation is probably being filled with the spirit of Satan; being demon possessed.

I want to say this to you ~ the most important thing that I could ever say to you is make sure you are born again and don't ever have anything to do with the mark of the beast or pledge allegiance to a world governmental system or a man. Make sure your allegiance is with Jesus Christ, and Him only.

When a person is born again, he becomes part of the Kingdom of God. What is being in the Kingdom of God like right now? What will it be like during the 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth?

The 1,000 year reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth is called the millinium. It is going to be a marvelous time. The lion lays down with the lamb and there will be peace on earth, good will toward men. Not one war for 1,000 years. I'm sure you want to be there.

The end of the age of human government and the beginning of the Kingdom of God occurs at the Battle of Armageddon. The Bible's most detailed account of the Battle of Armageddon is found in Revelation 16:12-14:

“And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”

Notice two things:

The Euphrates River is going to be dried up when the Sixth Vial is poured out. This is to facilitate the invasion of Israel by the kings of the East. The Euphrates River being dried up is a huge prophecy because the Euphrates is the principle water source of the Middle East.

On January 13, 1990, the Indianapolis Star carried the headline: “Turkey Will Cut Off Flow of the Euphrates for One Month”. What happened was Turkey built a huge Ataturk Dam and they needed to fill up their reservoir when the dam was completed. They actually stopped the flow of the Euphrates for 30 days. What does this mean?

This means that this 2,000-year-old prophecy could only be fulfilled as of 1990. Right now, Turkey has the ability to raise the dam and stop the flow of the Euphrates. The Bible prophesies that the Euphrates will be dried up to allow the kings of the East to invade Israel.

In Revelation 16:13, above, it says that there will be three spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, the beast and the false prophet. And these are the spirits of devils drawing the kings of the earth, come on down against Israel for the Battle of Armageddon.

Then we have the “Last minute warning” in Revelation 16:15:

“Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.”

That's like God saying, “I'm coming. Make sure you stay ready. Don't get sloppy. Don't fall asleep at the wheel.”

Revelation 16:16 continues:

“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”

This is the only passage in the entire Bible where the word “Armageddon” is used. Armageddon comes from two words, “har Meggido” or “Hill of Meggido”. The city of Meggido is up on the hill overlooking the plane of Meggido, which is also known as the Valley of Jazreel ~ seven miles wide, fifteen miles long. That's where the Battle of Armageddon will begin. It will finish 160 miles to the south at the Gates of Jerusalem.

Another account of Armageddon is given in Zechariah 14:2:

“For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

Remember in Revelation it said the spirits of devils gather the nations to battle. Here in Zechariah, God says, “I will do it.” Is this a contradiction? No. God uses Satan for His own purposes. So the nations of the earth are going to be convinced to come down to do this evil thing, and that is ~ fight against Israel.

The Jews are teetering on the brink of defeat. The battle begins in northern Israel. They fall back down the Jordan Valley before the superior fire power of the international community. It may be the armies of NATO. It may be the world community armies. Exactly how that whole force is going to be structured, I can't tell you.

Can you just see it … Israel is at the gates of Jerusalem for her last stand. Picture it ... The young Jewish soldiers are bone weary. They've been fighting for days. They look at their ammunition boxes and they are empty. They realize the end of their nation of Israel is come. Perhaps President Ahmadinejad of Iran was right ~ Israel is going to be wiped off the map ~ Israel is going to be driven into the sea. But those young, Jewish, soldiers remember, their mothers taught them, “When Israel needs Him the most, Messiah will come.”

Some of them may pause for a moment to look to the Mount of Olives. That

is where Messiah is going to come to. They may say, “Messiah, if you're going to come, right now will be the perfect time.”

The Bible tells us what happens in Zechariah 14:3-4:

“Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.”

The Bible actually says there is going to be a great earthquake that will kill 7,000 in Jerusalem at that time.

The Jewish people are expecting their Messiah to come to the Mount of Olives. I can see the Jewish soldiers and the other Jews as they rush out to meet their Messiah. Let's look at the account in Zechariah 13:6. They rush out to meet their Messiah, the guns have fallen silent. The international army is amazed at this scenario taking place in front of their eyes ~ the descent of Jesus Christ from heaven with His armies. The Jews rush out to meet their Messiah. They fall before Him to worship Him.

I see one young Jewish soldier who looks down at the feet of the Messiah and he sees there are scars in His feet. Jesus reaches out to him and he notices a scar in His hand. The soldier says, “Messiah, where did you get these wounds?” It tells us in Zechariah 13:6:

“... What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.”

All of a sudden 2,000 years of spiritual blindness comes peeling off the Jewish mind and they say, “So, You are Jesus. Oh, Messiah, we have been so blind. We have been so arrogant, so proud. Could you ever forgive us?”

Does anybody know what happens when someone asks Jesus to forgive them? I personally know He forgives them. He forgave me.

Continuing on, this same scene is one chapter earlier in Zechariah 12:10:

“And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced [whom they have crucified], and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”

The Jews weep because of their rejection of their Messiah.

This is when the milennium begins, the 1,000 years of peace. Daniel talked about it in Daniel 7:9:

“I beheld until the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of days did sit ...”

The thrones of human government are going to be put aside. All governments will be suspended and Jesus will be crowned King of kings and Lord of lords.

Daniel 7:27 tells us more:

“And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.”

The kingdom will be given to the saints, the born again people that have been raptured to meet the Lord in the air. Now they are going to rule and reign as kings and priests with Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, Revelation 5:9-10 tells us that the people there, the redeemed, are rejoicing, saying:

“... and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.”

The Bible says, “The meek shall inherit the earth.” Do you know we are in training right now to reign? That's what being a Christian is all about. We are taught to love those that hate you; do good to those that despitefully use you. That's the law. Those are the principles that will rule the world during the 1,000 years of peace. No wonder it's going to be peace on earth, good will toward men.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.

Part 3 of 6 – Kingdom of God

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

We are going to look now at four major accounts of conversion in the Bible.

We have actually already looked at the first account in Acts chapter 2 on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached the first sermon. He preached that they must be born again.

For our next account ~ There was a huge revival that broke out. In Acts 8:12, Philip had been the main preacher:

“But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

As Philip had preached to them about the Kingdom of God, he had preached about the death, burial and resurrection, so the response was “I want to repent; I want to be baptized.”

Then Simon, who was a sorcerer, had deceived the people. When this big crowd developed, he fell in line and said, “I want to be a part of this, this is where the crowd is.” Acts 8:13 tells us:

“Then Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.”

So Philip preached the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. Simon, the sorcerer, believed and was baptized. Continuing, Acts 8:14-16 says:

“Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John:

Who, when they were come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost:

(For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.)”

This is interesting. They believed. They had obviously repented. They had been baptized, but they had not received the Holy Ghost. We need to really look at that because a lot of false concepts are floating around.

Some people say, “Oh, you receive the Holy Ghost when you believe on Jesus Christ.” But these people had believed, but they didn't have the Holy Ghost yet.

Other people say, “When you're baptized, that's when you receive the Holy Ghost. You just accept it by faith.” But these people had believed and been baptized, but it explicitly states here, “For as yet the Holy Ghost was fallen upon none of them.” However, when Peter and John came down from Jerusalem, they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost.

It's very interesting as we can see what's going on here. They don't have the Holy Ghost here and then they laid hands on them. Then it states, “And then they received the Holy Ghost.”

As the account goes on, Acts 8:18-19 says:

“And when Simon saw that throught laying on of the apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money.

Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost.”

What did Simon see that caused him to want to give money? What happened was the apostles laid hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost just like they did on the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost when they received the Holy Ghost, they began to speak with other languages as the spirit gave the utterance. Simon said, “Whoa, I can make a lot of money doig this. Give me this power. I'll give you money if you will give me this power.”

Acts 8:20-21 says:

“But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Thou has neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.”

Simon had believed and he was baptized, but he apparently hadn't repented because Peter said, “Your heart is not right in the sight of God.”

Let's go to another account. Here is the first conversion of the Gentiles. Acts 10:43 says:

“To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

Peter went down to preach to Cornelius. An angel had appeared to Cornelius and said, “You should send for one by the name of Simon Peter and he will give you words whereby you can be saved.” Cornelius had prayed an angel down, but he still wasn't saved. He still needed to be born again.

Peter is here, when he got to the household of Cornelius, Cornelius had gathered in many of his relatives and they were all there to hear what God would say to them. Peter preaches to them that through the name of Jesus, all that believe on Him should receive remission of sins. Acts 10:44-45 says:

“While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word.

And they of the circumcision [the Jews] which believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

Gentiles weren't supposed to be recipients of salvation. That was for the Jews. But now, God is doing a new thing. But these Jewish people said, “Wait a minute. The Gentiles are receiving the Holy Ghost. How do they know? Acts 10:46 says:

“For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God...”

So we see all these elements here in all of the conversions in Acts chapter 2, repent, be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Acts chapter 8: They believed. They were baptized. Then they received the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Now here in Acts chapter 10: As Peter was preaching, the Holy Ghost fell on them. They received the Holy Ghost for they heard them speaking with tongues.

Well now what do we do? In Acts 10:47-48, Peter answered:

“Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the Holy Ghost as well as we?

And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord...”

He didn't say to them, “Look, now you have the Holy Ghost so there is no reason for you to be baptized. Apparently, it's not important.”

No. No. “There are three that bear witness in the earth. The blood, the water and the spirit, and these three agree in one.” These agree in being born again. The Apostle Peter commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

The last account that we are going to look at is Acts 19:1-2:

“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.”

They were believers, but they hadn't received the Holy Ghost. They didn't even know there was such a thing.

The Apostle Paul thought, “If you don't know if there's such a thing as the Holy Ghost, you probably don't even know about the correct baptism.” Acts 19:3 says:

“And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.”

Notice what they are preaching in every one of these accounts:

• Believing and Repentance
• Baptism
• Holy Ghost

Acts 19:4-6 continues:

“Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.”

There it is again ~ Preaching the Kingdom of God ~ Preaching that people must be born again.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, of whom I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.