Revelation 22 - Verse by Verse Bible Study

By Pastor Steven L Anderson

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January, 2013

Alright, in Revelation 22, verse number 1, the Bible reads "And he shewed me a pure river

of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life,

which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the

tree were for the healing of the nations." And tonight I'm going to pick up where I left

off with my sermon on Revelation , which was discussing the new heaven and the new

earth. And in that sermon, I already went over the water of life, and we talked about

that, but then in verse number it says "In the midst of the street of it, and on either

side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded

her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

And if you remember, back in the garden of Eden, there was a single tree of life, and

when they were thrown out of the garden they were told that they could not eat thereof,

because they were told that if they ate of that tree of life, they would live forever.

Well, here there are multiple trees of life on either side of the river, and the Bible

says that the tree of life bare manner of fruits, and then it says "yielded her fruit

every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." So this is

pretty interesting, because this is tree which produces a different type of fruit every month.

Isn't that interesting? So it's always in season. In every month, it's a different variety

of fruit that's growing on it, but there is always something growing on it, and it says

that the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Verse , "And there shall

be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants

shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads."

Now the first thing that I want to point out there is that the Bible talks about the fact

that throughout eternity, we will be serving God. Meaning that there will be work for us

to do. Now, you don't have to turn there, but in nd Corinthians chapter , the Bible

reads in verse "We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body,

and to be present with the Lord." You see, there are alot of people who believe that

when you die as a believer, you are just going to lay in the earth and you're going to be

asleep in Jesus. And what they think that means is that your soul will be asleep, that

you'll just be completely unconscious, and then someday you will be resurrected. But

in reality, what the Bible teaches is that when you are asleep in Jesus, your body is

asleep, but that your soul is very much alive and awake and present in heaven, and so the

BIble says here that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. That's

why Paul said "I have a desire to depart and to BE WITH CHRIST, which is far better". He

said "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain." And so what he is saying there is

that "when I die, I know I'm going immediately to be with Christ, which is far better than

being here on this earth." So he says, "we're confident, we know for sure that we're saved,

we know for sure that we have eternal life, we're confident I say, and willing, rather

to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." You see to the believer death

is not something to be feared. "Oh death, where is thy sting, oh grave, where is thy

victory?" Death is jsut a departure to go and be with Christ. And he says "I'd rather

be with Christ." He says "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord",

but then he says, verse , "wherefore", meaning "for this reason, "we labour, that whether

present or absent, we may be accepted of him". And you see that when we are either present

in the body or absent in the body, we labour. And we seek to be accepted of him. Meaning

that God will have work for us to do, when we get to heaven. He will have work for us

to do in the millenial kingdom, ruling and reigning with him. And we will even have work

to do for all of eternity. Now I think that's great, because I don't know about you, but

I like working. Now I like to take a break from work, I like to go on vacation. Sometimes

it's hard to take a vacation for me, because I'm kind of a workaholic sometimes. I'm the

type where I go on vacation and I try to take a little work with me, get a little done on

the road. It's hard sometimes to take a break. But the last three days, I took a vacation,

and man, I did not touch work for three days, so this is progress for me. I took a really

relaxing vacation, I brought a bunch of work, and didn't even touch it the whole time. But

work is something that men and women of Godly character enjoy, and like to do. You see,

there is a word for people who don't like to work. Lazy. And obviously someone who is

filled with the spirit, obviously someone who loves the Lord is not a Lazy person, because

God commands against laziness. And when we get to heaven, when we're completely per

cent in the spirit and we don't have the simple flesh with us anymore, we're not going to

be lazy anymore. Even if we're lazy a little bit now, we're not going to be lazy when we

get up there. We're going to want to work. If you look at the proverbs woman, the

virtuous woman, she does alot of work. She is very busy, you can see all the different

things there that are listed. Obviously men in the Bible who were great men of God were

hard workers. And so we as men and women of God desire to work, and therefore throughout

all of eternity, it's good to know, there will be work to do. THere will something that

we can spend our time on, that's valuable and fulfilling, and that gives us something

to do, so that we're not bored. And so he says "wherefore we labour, that whether present

or absent, we may be accepted of him." Look down at your Bible there in REvelation ,

it says in verse , "his servants shall serve him", and then in verse it says this, "And

they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads." Now, the first thing

I want to point out here, is that the word "his" in both the first part of this sentence

and the second part of the sentence, are referring to God the Father, not to Jesus CHrist or

the Lamb. Now that's very important, and I'm going to prove it to you. Because it says

in verse , "they shall see HIS face, and his name shall be in their foreheads". And

you can look back at verse , and see we're talking about God and the Lamb. THat's the

antecedent of the pronoun "he", or "his". It says in verse , "but the throne of God

and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face;

and his name shall be in their foreheads." Now let me prove to you that that's referring

to God the Father. Go to Revelation . Keep your finger there in Revelation . Go back

to chapter . And in chapter , we find a similar statement that will shed some light

on this. It says in verse number , "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount

Sion"- who is the "Lamb"? Jesus Christ, right? Because remember, God consists of the Father,

the Son and the Holy Ghost. And the Bible says "these three are one". Now, we do not

believe in Gods, we believe in one God, but we believe that that God IS the Father,

the Son and the Holy Spirit. He is a "three-in-one". People often use the word "trinity", and I

don't think that's a bad word, because "trinity" means "three-in-one", and the Bible says "these

three are one". So you have to understand that even though Jesus CHrist was God in the

flesh, even though he said "if you've seen me, you've seen the Father", even though he

said "I and my Father are one". There is a difference between the Father and the Son.

And there is another difference between the Holy Ghost. And alot of people believe in

false doctrines today. Alot of times you will hear it referred to as "the Jesus only movement".

WHo has been exposed to this? Maybe out soulwinning... It will tip you off, because they will say

to you "have you been baptised in the name of JESUS?" And they say "if you've been baptised

in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, you've not been properly baptised."

Even though the Bible clearly says in Matthew , that we are supposed to go out and teach

all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. THey

say "no, if you haven't been baptised in Jesus' name, JUST Jesus' name, you're not properly

baptised." But there is alot of strange false doctrine out there isn't there? I've run into

people out there like this all the time knocking doors that will tell me this. And you will

run into people that will try to tell you basically that Jesus is the Father. Now on

the Father, it sounds okay. When you first hear it, it sounds okay, like "they're just

referring to the deity of CHrist, they're just referring to the fact that Jesus is God."

But what they're actually saying is that there are no distinctions between the Father and

the Son. Basically what they believe is that the Father BECAME the Son. The Father basically

BECAME Jesus, and they're not seeing the separate entities here of the Father, the Son and the

Holy Ghost. Now, I'm going to prove to you right now that that's false. And I'm going

to show you from this passage why it's so significant that we will some day, after the

millenium see God the Father's face, and have his name in our foreheads. Look if you would

at Revelation :. "And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him

an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads."

So whose name is written in their foreheads? THe FATHER of the Lamb, right? God the Father.

Now, with that in mind, look at REvelation again. It says "and they shall see his

face, and his name shall be in their foreheads." So obviously the "his" of the name in the

forehead, is the name of the "his" of "they shall see his face". You say "why is it so

significant to see God's face?" Well, look back at Exodus . Exodus chapter . You

see, this doctrine that teaches that basically God the Father became Jesus is a flase doctrine,

because the Bible says "In the BEGINNING was the word, and the word was WITH God, and the

word WAS GOD." So even in the beginning there was the word and God. They were together,

they were one, but they were also separate. It's a great mystery. The Bible says "without

controversy, great is the mystery of godliness." Jesus CHrist said in John ... he said to

the Father, "glorify me with the glory which we had before the world began." And so, the

Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost have always existed and will always exist. ANd there is

a difference between the Father and the Son. THey're both God, there is only one God, but

they are different. And to basically erase all distinctions... You see, there are two

ways to get into false doctrines with this. If you say they are not one, that's false

doctrine. THat's like the Jehova's Witnesses and the Mormons, they don't believe that they're

one. And then this "Jesus only" pentacostal movement, they're saying they're not three.

And that's a false doctrine too. You have to believe "these three are one", that's the

correct doctrine. But, it says this. You're turning to Exodus . Listen to John :.

"No man hath seen God at any time". Did you hear that? "No man hath seen God at any time;

the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." So,

have we seen God the Son as a human being? Not us personally, but have human beings seen

God the Son? Yes, they've seen Jesus CHrist. But has any human being EVER seen God the

Father? Never. Look at Exodus , verse . And he said... this is God speaking unto Moses.

"And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live."

Pretty clear isn't it? "And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt

stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put

thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will

take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen."

Now look, you can just tell from these scriptures that this is a very big deal to God that nobody

is going to see his face. Moses is begging to see his face, he wants to see his glory,

he wants to see God. And basically God, just to show Moses a little bit of what he wanted

to see, without fully revealing himself, he puts his hand over Moses, and covers Moses

view as he approaches. Then he passes by Moses and removes his hand as he passes by, just

so that Moses can catch a glimpse of his hinder parts. And do you remember that as a result

of this, Moses face was glowing so bright that people could not even look at Moses'

face. They had to put a vail over Moses' face to cover the glory that was shining on Moses'

face. THat's jsut from getting a glimpse at the back of God. He said anyone who would

see the face of God would DIE, according to the Bible here. Now go to st Corinthians

chapter . And we'll see a little bit more about the distinction between the Father,

the Son and the Holy Ghost. And again, we are not taking away from the deity of Jesus

Christ. But to say that the Son is the Father, or that the Father IS the Son, and that there

is no distinction between the two is a false doctrine, because there is a distinction between

the two. Remember when Jesus Christ was on the cross, he said "my God, my God, why hast

thou forsaken me?" Obviously, we have a difference there between the Father and the Son. Obviously

Jesus is God. It's not wrong at all to call Jesus God, because the Bible calls Jesus God

many times, like when it says in Hebrews :, "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O

God, is for ever and ever". The Bible says "And without controversy great is the mystery

of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached

unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." That was God. Jesus

Christ is God. But God is made up... And sometimes the Bible calls it "the Godhead". God, the

one God that we believe in and worship, the one God that exists is made up of the Father,

the Son and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. So are we right to say there is one

God? Absolutely, because the three are one. Now, let me explain it to you this way. And

obviously it's difficult to ever fully explain something of this magnitude. But let me explain

it to you this way. I am made up of body, soul and spirit. So I am also a trichotomy,

if you will. I am only one person, right? But I am made up of body, soul and spirit.

Now would it be accurate to say "my body is my soul, and my soul is my body"? That is

not accurate at all. Well that's the same false doctrine as saying "God the Father IS

Jesus", instead of realising that there is a distinction between the two, although they

make up one person, Steven Anderson, my body, my soul and my spirit are separate. And in

fact, if I were to die today, a separation would take place where my body would remain

on this earth, and the soul and spirit would depart. The Bible says "For as the body without

the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." And if you were to look at

that body laying on the ground and say "that is Steven Anderson", you would be accurate

to say "that is Steven Anderson". And the man who walks into heaven in the soul and

spirit, if you were to look at him and say "that is Steven Anderson", you would be accurate.

Now, are we talking about two different people? No. But are they in two different places?

Yes. But it's the same person. Well that's the same thing with God. That's the best way

I can think to illustrate it, is that God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost,

but it's only one God. But he is in these three... And we struggle for words, but that's

why I try to stick with the Bible's words, these three are one. Look at verse of chapter

there. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every

man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.

Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when

he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power." So here we see the order of the

resurrection. He said "CHrist the firstfruits". THat's the first one who rose from the dead,

he is called the "first begotten of the dead". Jesus Christ is the first one who rose from

the dead. You say "well, other people in the Bible were resurrected in the Old Testament,

when Elisha brought someone back to life". But you have to understand, those people died

again. Those people were temporarily brought back. Jesus CHrist is the first one who rose

again in a glorified form to die no more. That's what we are talking about here, the

glory of the resurrection. Jesus Christ was the first fruits. What's the next step? "AFTERward,

they that are Christ's at his coming". THat's the rapture, that's st Thessalonians . "We

which are alive and remain unto the COMING OF THE LORD shall not prevent them which are

asleep... The dead in Christ shall rise first." So the resurrection is like this. Christ the

firstfruits, afterward them that are Christ's at his coming, known as "the first resurrection",

Jesus is the "firstfruits". But then there is a second resurrection, that takes place

AFTER the millenium. So we see, look at verse there. "Christ the firstfruits; afterward

they that are Christ's at his coming." Look at verse , "Then cometh the end", so the

final resurrection is what the Bible calls the END, "when he shall have delivered up

the kingdom to God, even the Father". So who is delivering up the kingdom to God, even

the Father? Jesus CHrist is going to rule and reign on this earth for a thousand years,

and then after the resurrection at "the END", which is what we refer to as the great white

throne judgment, after that resurrection, it says that he shall deliver up the kingdom

to God, even the Father at that time of that resurrection. Verse . "For he must reign",

who is the "he"? Jesus. "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his

feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted,

which did put all things under him." What verse is saying, is that everything and

everyone is under Jesus except for God the Father, who is not under Jesus. Because it

is obvious that he is excepted, which did put all things under him." Now look at verse

. "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself

be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all." Now look,

how in the world can you read st Corinthians : and believe that there is no distinction

between the Father and the Son. This Jesus only movement just falls apart when you look

at this. To say that there is no distinction between the Father and the Son is to ignore

the clear teaching of God's word. Because here, the Bible teaches that AFTER Jesus CHrist

rules and reigns for years on this earth, that he will deliver up the kingdom... Look

at verse there, he will deliver up the kingdom to God. But then he is quick to tell

us, "even the Father", he is delivering up the kingdom to the Father. And the Bible says

that after Jesus has reigned for years, that he will be subject unto the Father. That's

what the Bible says. I believe it. Who believes that that is true? That's what the Bible says.

THis is important doctrine. It says "so that God may be all in all." So think about this

now. In the millenium, when Jesus Christ is ruling and reigning, there is still going

to be alot of unsaved people on this earth. Because alot of those unsaved people are going

to be rebelling at the end of the millenium, at the battle of Gog and Magog. Now, during

the millenium, we are not going to be interacting with God the Father, while we are on this

earth. Jesus Christ, the Son, is going to be physically present on this earth, and Jesus

CHrist will be in Jerusalem ruling and reigning over this earth. That is who we as human being

will interact with. Those of us that are saved, and also the unsaved will be on this earth,

as he rules with a rod of iron. Now after the millenium, when the great white throne

takes place, every unsaved person of all the ages will be cast into the lake of fire and

brimstone, where they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. Then we will

go into the new heaven and the new earth. And in the new heaven and the new earth, there

will be no unsaved people. That's why there will be no more death. No one will ever die

again. THere will be no sorrow, no crying, no sickness, no pain. The former things are

passed away. All things have been made new. Go to Revelation . And that is why it is

only at that point that we shall see his face and his name will be in our foreheads. That

is a very significant event there, when we will finally be allowed to see the face of

God the Father. Now, that's a pretty amazing thing. I mean, I can't even comprehend fully

what that means. When you look at a man like Moses, who saw alot of miracles, he saw alot

of great things, he just saw the hinder parts of God, and it was something that he could

barely handle, and it was something where his face shone from the glory. And God said

that no man could see his face and live. But we, someday will say the face of God the Father

himself, according to Revelation :. Isn't it amazing that you probably just read over

that verse alot. But now that you understand that, it's "WOW!" We're going to see his face,

what Moses desired to see. And he was just amazed by just the hinder parts that he saw.

But if you would, look at verse number , the Bible says "And there shall be no night

there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light:

and they shall reign for ever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful

and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the

things which must shortly be done. Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth

the sayings of the prophecy of this book." Now remember in chapter of Revelation, I

believe the key verse is where he says "ehold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall

see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because

of him. Even so, Amen." And in chapter , we see the statement over and over again,

the statement, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy

of this book." Why do we have the book of Revelation? Because the Bible says, to show

unto us as his servants, the things which must shortly be done. We need to know this

information, as his servants. Because these things are at hand, the Bible says. Verse

, "And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell

down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he

unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets,

and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God." So, John is so impressed

by this angel that has been showing them all these visions and has been showing them all

these things, that he falls down at his feet and begins to worship the angel. And the angel

tells him, "don't do it". And if you would, turn to Acts chapter . Keep your finger

in Revelation . But he says "See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of

thy brethren the prophets". So let me ask you this. Was this "angel", a human being

or not? Yes he was, because he was of his brethren. He was OF the servants the prophets.

See, when the Bible uses the word "angel", it often means "messenger". For example, think

of the word "evangelist" in the Bible. What is an "evangelist"? Well, an evangelist is

someone who preaches the gospel. For example, I speak German. And in German, the word for

the Gospel is "Das evangelium", like "evangelist". And basically, if you look at the word "evangelist",

what is in the middle of that word? "Angel", you see that? So in the midst of the word

"evangelist", is the word "angel". Because "angel" means "messenger". And if you take

the "ev" at the beginning, that comes from a greek prefix meaning "good". For example,

we have the word "euphony". Who knows what the word "euphony" means? It sounds good,

right? "Euphony" means "good sound". Because that "E U" at the beginning means "good",

and "phony", refers to sound. So basically when you have "euphony", it means "sounding

good". When you have an "evengelist", "EV" is the same as "EU", it means "good evangelist",

or "good messenger". Basically a messenger who is bringing a good message, or good news.

Glad tidings. The Bible in Isaiah : says "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because

the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek". That verse is quoted is quoted

in the New Testament in Luke : as "he hath anointed me to preach the GOSPEL to the poor."

So notice, the Old Testament "glad tidings", it's quoted in the New Testament as "gospel".

One who preaches the gospel is called an "evangelist", because he is bringing the good news, or the

good tidings, or the good message. He is a messenger of good things. So when the Bible

uses the word "angel", it often just means messenger. Like in Revelation and , when

he talks unto the "angel" of the church at Ephesus, and the "angel" of the church at

Smyrna. And often these "angels", he is rebuking. THey are the ones who are bringing the message

to the church. THey are the ones who are the preachers at those churches, that is who he

is referring to. Here, this guy is a prophet or a preacher taht is gone on to be with the

Lord, and now he is being used in the capacity of an angel, or a messenger of God, to show

John these things that must come to pass. And so, he is a human being. He is a man.

He is human. Now, there are other beings in the Bible, that are called "angels", okay,

that are not human. For example, the Cherubims, and the Seraphims. The Seraphims are "living

creatures", the Bible calls them. And they have four wings, and they have four faces

often, and they're not human. And then you'll look at the Seraphims, they have wings,

as opposed to four wings. They're not human. They've never been human. So when you get

to heaven, you are not going to have wings installed. "I'm becoming an angel..." No.

But you may act as an angel, in the sense that you are bringing a message, or carrying

a message for God or serving God in that way. But we have to be very careful not to confuse

this doctrine, because in the Bible we use the word "angel" for either one. For example,

the Bible says that God never said to any of the angels at any time, "thou art my Son,

this day have I begotten thee." When we see a verse like that, obviously we are referring

to the non-human angelic beings, the Seraphims, the Cherubims, and those type of living creatures

like Ezekiel saw in chapter and of Ezekiel. But, sometimes a man can be referred to as

an angel, in a different sense, just in the sense that he is a servant, or messenger of

God. So I just wanted to make sure that you understood that. Now look at Acts chapter

. Because we see here that when this "angel", this prophet or brother of the apostle John...

WHen John bows down and worships him, he says "see thou do it not", and he stops him from

worshipping him. And he says "you should only worship God, don't worship me. I'm your brother,

I'm your fellow servant, I'm not God." But today, there are people on this earth who

will bow down and worship a man, and his name is the Pope. And even if you ask a Roman Catholic,

who tries to tell you, "we don't worship the Pope..." If the Pope landed at the airport

today, people would get on their faces and bow down before him. That's a fact. Doesn't

matter what they want to call it. "Well.... It's not worship!" If it looks like a duck,

and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. And when people are bowing down and getting on their

faces and making obeisance unto the Pope, that is not scriptural. Now who did the Roman

Catholics say was the first Pope? Peter. That's what they say right? But we don't believe

that. Because you know what "Pope" means? "Pope" means "Father", it's Latin for "Father".

ANd you know what? The Bible says "call NO MAN your Father upon the earth, for one is

your Father which is in heaven". So calling the Pope, "Father" is blasphemy in and of

itself. But look if you would at the so called "first Pope", according to the Roman catholics.

Look at Acts , verse , "And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down

at his feet, and worshipped him." And Peter went like this- [Gestures]. No he didn't!

Look what Peter did. "Peter took him up", I mean Peter physically reached down and took

him up, off his prostrate position, "saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man." So you

see, every man of God in the Bible, when he was worshipped in this way- whether it was

Paul and Barnabas... This happened to Paul and Barnabas, happened to Peter, happened

to John... Thay always HATE it when someone tries to worship them, and they're picking

them up off the ground saying "don't do this". But notice, whenever Jesus had people falling

down before him and worshipping him, he accepted the worship every time. Jesus always received

the worship, right? Because he is the Lamb that's worthy to be praised. He was God in

the flesh. He was God incarnate. He wanted and desired to be worshipped. And when Thomas

fell down at his feet and said "my Lord and my God", he didn't say "stand up I am also

a man". He said "blessed art thou Thomas, because thou hast believed". So we should

never bow down and kneel before man, or worship man. Go if you would back to Revelation .

It says in verse , "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this

book: for the time is at hand." It's interesting that he said that because back in Daniel :,

it says "And I heard, but I understood not", this is after Daniel had received all the

prophecies about the end times. It says "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." So the time that the book

of Daniel was written, he said "seal up the words". He said "I don't understand, God!"

He told Daniel, "it's sealed, it's closed, you're not going to understand until the time

of the end." But look here, in verse of Revelation , it says "seal NOT", so this

is the opposite of the last chapter of Daniel. It says "And he saith unto me, Seal not the

sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand." Now just based on that

alone right there, which book do you believe is going ot be easier to understand, Revelation

or Daniel? Revelation. I wish people would just understand that if they're going to study

Bible prophecy, the number book they should be studying is Revelation. And it's amazing

how people will ignore the clear teaching of Revelation, and they want to hang out in

Isaiah, they want to hang out in Ezekiel, they want to hang out in Daniel, they want

to hang out in Zechariah. And look, I believe every word of those Old Testament books. But

I'll tell you something, the Revelation is much more clear and explicit than any of those

books because it is the "revelation", and many of the things in those Old Testament

books are cryptic and obscure. THey're masked in parables and dark sayings. Plus, the difficult

thing when you are reading the Old Testament prophets, is that alot of the things that

they're prophesying were very short term events that were going to happen. You realise that?

When you're reading for example the book of Jeremiah, there are some endtimes applications,

but the primary application is talking about the Babylonian Captivity that happened many

thousands of years ago. And when you are reading the book of Ezekiel, and when you are reading

the book of Daniel, alot of those prophecies are things that were going to happen before

Jesus CHrist came. Alot of things are prophecies of Jesus Christ's first coming. And so sometimes

it can be very difficult to distinguish between what is a prophecy that's already happened,

and what is still going to happen. ANd even when you are reading the four gospels and

Jesus is speaking, Jesus Christ himself said that he spoke in parables and dark sayings,

and when Jesus is preaching in the Olivet discourse, some of the things that he preaches

in Matthew , Mark and Luke , are short term things that happened at that time. Some

of those things in Luke have already been fulfilled. But the thing about the book of

Revelation is that the book of Revelation is referring to future events, and it's easy

to tell what is still coming and what has already happened, because it's a much more

explicit book. Now, I'm not saying I believe any one book of the Bible any more or less

than another. It's all true, it's all God's word, it's all perfect. But if you're studying

Bible prophecy, let me just give you some advice... And I feel like every error in Bible

prophecy is the result of ignoring the advice I'm about to give you. If you really want

to understand Bible prophecy, let me give you the tip that's better than any other tip...

You must understand the clearness of different portions of scripture, and you must rank scripture

in order of how clear it is. And the top rung of that ladder would be Revelation. Revelation

is the most clear book on Bible prophecy. The whole book is about the second coming

of Christ and the events surrounding it. The whole book deals with future Bible prophecy.

It's the clearest! It's not sealed, my friends, I'm not making this up! He said the book of

Daniel, he said it was sealed. Daniel said "I don'teven understand what you're saying!"

It's a cryptic book my friend! But the book of Revelation is designed to be explicit,

to reveal things, to expose things, to be easy to understand. That's why Revelation

should always be our primary study and we should look at things in the Old Testament,

and interpret them based on what we see in Revelation. So I would say Revelation is the

number clearest place to get our Bible prophecy doctrine. Then secondly would be the epistles.

The epistles of Paul, the epistles of John. All of the epistles. Because the epistles

are very explicit and clear teaching. Then next, I would go to the four gospels, because

the four gospels are New Testament teachings. Now, often Jesus used parables and dark sayings.

But it's still New Testament teachings, and it's very easy to tell when he is talking

about things that have already happened versus things that have already happened. ANd then

next I would go to the Old Testament prophets, and see what they have to say. And then lastly,

I would look at typology. Typology is things that are symbolic. But you know, alot of people

have this completely backwards. They want to talk about typology. "Well I KNOW that

the tribulation and the rapture are going to be like this, because when Noah got on

the ark, that's a picture of x y and z." WHy don't you just go with the clear statements

in Revelation? WHy don't you go with the clear statements in the epistles? Why don't you

go with the clear statements out of the mouth of Jesus CHrist, and it'll all come clear.

Because it's funny to me, how God gave us a book, listen to me now, he gave us the book

of Revelation so that we would understand the things that were shortly going to come

to pass. Did he say "I gave you the book of John so that you'll understand the things

that are shortly going to come to pass" in regard to Bible prophecy? Did he say that

about the book of Daniel or Ezekiel? Did he say that about the book of Matthew? No. We

can learn about Bible prophecy, I believe, from all books. But which book is intended

to show us and reveal to us the things that must shortly come to pass. THe book that claims

to have that purpose in mind is the book of Revelation. And it should always be the number

one cornerstone when it comes to Bible prophecy. And that's why it's such an important book

to study. It is NOT a sealed book. It is only sealed to those that are unsaved. Or it is

sealed to those who have a preconceived idea and REFUSE to believe the truth about what

it explicitly says. But to those of us that are saved, and to those of us who care what

the truth is, and do not have an ulterior motive, to try to make the book of Revelation

say something that it is not saying, it is NOT a sealed book! It is a book that is to

show us and reveal to us, what is going to happen. And we can understand it clearly.

Now, look at verse . "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things"-

where?" "in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and

morning star." Now look, did Jesus Christ not command for these things to be preached

and taught in the churches? He said "I'm giving you these things, I've sent my angel to show

you these things and to testify unto you these things in the churches." So look, is it right

for Pastors to NOT preach on the book of Revelation? I heard a Pastor recently say "I'm just not

comfortable teaching and preaching on the book of Revelation yet." Then you're not ready

to be a Pastor yet! Because he said that he gave us these things to be taught and preached

and shown to the churches. And look, the churches in need to be TAUGHT the DOCTRINES of

the book of Revelation MORE than the churches of any other generation! I mean, the time

is AT HAND. And if there were EVER a time that the book of Revelation would need to

be taught and preached, it would be today. And he said "I want this to be shown unto

you and testified in the churches", and the angels of these churches, the preachers in

these churches today are shying away from it. They say "I'm not comfortable", no, here

is what you're not comfortable with. You're not comfortable with preaching something that's

not popular, that's what you're not comfortable with. And you know that the doctrine that

you've been taught of the pre-trib rapture is a lie. And you're not comfortable getting

up and preaching the truth, because then Mr. Moneybag deacon is going to leave the church.

That's what you're not comfortable with. And you are not fit to be a preacher. And then

another preacher recently, I heard about one of his church members confronted him and said

"are you pre-trib?" This is what he said. "I don't know. I don't know what I believe."

This is the day we are living in. This is supposed to be taught and preached in the

churches. If the Pastor doesn't know, how are the church members going to know. And

I'm sure God gave us the book of Revelation so that we could all just walk into the end

times having NO IDEA what's going to happen! Having NO IDEA what's going to happen, because

the Pastor won't teach us, because the Pastor won't tell us! I mean it's ridiculous today.

This is an important book. You say "well, it's not my favorite book". READ IT! LEARN

IT! But listen to what he says in verse , "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still:

and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be

righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly;

and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha

and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that

do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through

the gates into the city." The city is the city that we talked about in the last sermon

on Revelation , the holy Jerusalem. "For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers,

and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." And of course they

told you that all dogs are going to heaven, that's just a lie, they're all going to hell

according to the Bible- just kidding. It says in verse , "I Jesus have sent mine angel

to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David,

and the bright and morning star." Now I want to park it on this verse for a moment here.

Jesus Christ said that he is the "root and offspring of David", and that he is the "bright

and morning star". Now, our church is King James Bible only. Now, if you've seen the

license plate on my car, it doesn't say "King James sometimes", it doesn't say "mostly KJV",

it says "KJVONLY" And I'm very strongly King James Only, because of the fact that these

new modern versions of the Bible, they make changes to the word. Now, this chapter explicitly

tells us, "do NOT make any changes". Look at verse number of Revelation . "For

I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any

man shall add unto these things", what things? The words of this prophecy. "God shall add

unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from

the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of

life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." That

is a very serious curse there. He places a curse upon anyone who would add to or remove

from God's word. It's pretty serious and he says "if you do, you're damned." He says "your

name is out of the book of life, and all the plagues of the book of Revelation will be

added unto you." You will never be safe. Now, people will try to use this and say "oh, you'll

lose your salvation". Well, you can't lose your salvation, if you're saved, you have

everlasting life. But what this is teaching, is that if a person who is not saved, who

tampers with God's word, even by removing or adding, they have sealed their fate, they

will go to hell, they lose their opportunity to ever be saved. You see the book of life,

it's interesting, I don't have time to go through all of it right now. But if you look

up every time the book of life is mentioned in the Bible, did you know that there is not

one verse that talks about a person's name being added to the book of life? Did you know

that? Look at the Bible. We have this idea and we hear this doctrine that the moment

a person gets saved, their name is written in the book of life. WRONG. Nowhere in the

whole Bible. Genesis to Revelation, you will NEVER find anyone's name being added. The

only time frame mentioned about anyone's name being put into the book of life is before

the foundation of the world. Bible says the names were put in there before the foundation

of the world. There is no evidence of anyone's name ever being added. But, there is much

talk about taking names OUT, or blotting names out or removing names. The best example, this

is in Revelation . "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and

I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before

my Father, and before his angels." So right there, it says that if you're saved, your

name is NOT going to be blotted out of the book of life, but it will be confessed. But

nowhere does it say "if you're saved, you will be added". And here is why, because everybody's

name starts out in the book of life, that's why. Everybody's name starts out in the book

of life. Every person who has ever lived. Then, when a person either DIES without recieving

Jesus Christ as saviour, OR does something else in their life such as blashpheme the

Holy Ghost, or such as add to or take from God's word, THAT is when their name is blotted

out. That is when basically they lose their chance to ever be saved. And so that's what

we see here. He says that if anyone removes or takes away from the words of the book of

this prophecy, verse , "God shall take away his part out of the book of life". Basically,

the place where his name could have been, is removed. And so what I'm saying is that

once a person has added to or taken from God's word, that person can NEVER BE SAVED. And

you say "oh, but anybody who is still alive can be saved." No, not if you've taken out

from God's word. Not if you've added to God's word, you can't. Once you've blasphemed the

Holy Ghost, Jesus said "All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men:

but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men." He said "whosoever

speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world,

neither in the world to come." I mean, there are things you can do that push you over the

edge. The Bible talks about those that are reprobate, that God has given over to a reprobate

mind. I mean, it's just simply too late. Does it seem like God takes pretty seriously somebody

tampering with his word? Now I don't know about you, but if God's telling me that the

people who actually are the ones who are purposely changing God's word- and obviously someone,

somewhere along the line purposely changed God's word, right? The Bible says that these

people are doomed and damned for doing such a thing. Wouldn't that make you afraid of

these versions? To think "oh well, I'm just going to go to a church that uses one of these

versions..." Let me show you right now that these versions are NOT just inferior to the

King James. It's not just "well, the King James is the best one". I'm going to show

to you and prove to you now, that these versions are Satanic. You say, "no Pastor Anderson,

I don't believe it. I do not believe that these new versions of the Bible are actually

Satanic. I just think that they're not as good as the King James." I'm going to prove

to you right now how Satanic they are. Because the people who would do such a thing are Satanic.

THey are reprobate, they are sons of Belial. Now let me prove it to you. We're going to

use the NIV as an example. But we could be using other versions, all the versions are

pretty much the same except the King James. THey all do the same things, they all make

the same changes. The NIV is the most popular version out there, of these modern Bible versions.

If you walked into a christian bookstore and said "give me a Bible", they are probably

going to put an NIV in your hand. Now brother Garrett has an NIV in his hand, and I'm going

to show you beyond a shadow of a doubt that the NIV is a Satanic book, okay? Look at Revelation

: again. It says "I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in

the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star."

Who is the "morning star" according to the Bible? Jesus Christ. Read for me Revelation

: from the NIV. You look down at your King James Bible. Read it nice and loud brother

Garrett. (Bro. Garrett- "I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the

churches, I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.") Now,

doesn't the NIV say pretty much the same thing in this verse, that Jesus is the morning star?

Doesn't it say that? Now, there is one other place, go to Revelation , I am going to show

you one other place that mentions the morning star. Is everybody on the same page so far?

In Revelation , both the King James and the NIV said that Jesus is the morning star.

Go back to Revelation quickly and I will show you this. It says in verse , "And he

that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the

nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall

they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning

star." Now go to Isaiah :. And look down at your Bible there. I am going to read for

you from the King James Bible, follow along. It says "How art thou fallen from heaven,

O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken

the nations!" Now let me ask you this, who is Lucifer? Satan. I mean, if we were to walk

down the street today and ask people "who is Lucifer?" Pretty much everybody would tell

us the same thing, they would tell us "Lucifer is Satan". And those who worship Satan, they

always call him by the name of Lucifer, have you noticed that? They always talk about "Lucifer

this, Lucifer that..." And people who are Satanists, they worship Lucifer. Now let's

read about Lucifer here. And by the way, did you know that this is the only verse in the

whole Bible that says the word "Lucifer", did you know that? Isaiah : tells us the

name of Satan. Lucifer. Look at verse . Why is he being cast out or fallen from heaven?

It says "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my

throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in

the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like

the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." So what

was it about Lucifer that caused him to be cast out of heaven, and cast down into hell?

What was it? He wanted to be like God. He wanted to be like the most high. He wanted

to ascend into heaven and exalt his throne above the stars of God. Now people will often

wrongfully say "he wanted to take the place of God", but that's not what he said. He said

"I will sit ALSO upon the mount of the congregation" and he said "I will be LIKE the most High."

He didn't want to become God, in the sense of taking the place of God, he wanted to become

a God. And that is EXACTLY what the Mormon religion teaches. That is EXACTLY what the

Latter Day Saint religion teaches, that man can become a god. And that's what Satan tempted

them with in the garden of Eden, when he said "if you eat of this fruit, you will be as

gods, knowing good and evil." And that's what the Mormon church today teaches, that you

will be as gods. You will be your own god of your own planet someday. You will be a

god. That was the sin of Lucifer here. So this is a really famous passage about Lucifer's

sin that caused him to be cast down. Now, read for me nice and loud- and remember before

Garrett reads it, what was it that Lucifer did that caused him to be cast down to hell?

He wanted to be like God. He wanted to be like the most High, right? Go ahead brother

Garrett, read it nice and loud. You look down at your Bible while brother Garrett reads

Isaiah : from the NIV. (Bro. Garrett- "How you have fallen from heaven, o morning

star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the

nations".) So in the King James Bible, who is being cast down from heaven? Starts with

an "L". Lucifer. Who is being cast out of heaven in the NIV? The morning star. And who

does the NIV say the morning star is? Jesus. So tell me that these people are not of Satan.

Tell me that that book is just "welllll, it's not quite as good, but it's what people like,

it's popular". One time I was talking to an assistant Pastor of a baptist church, and

I showed him all these errors of the NIV, and he said "well, I know the NIV has got

alot of problems, but it's just what people use, and so that's what I'm going to preach.

It's what people want, it's the most popular one, that's why I'm going to use it." No,

it's SATANIC. I mean, to sit there and remove the name of Lucifer, to protect his name from

a negative connotation... Because all these new-agers, all these people that are into

new age religion and mysticism and gnosticism and Satanism, they all talk about how wonderful

Lucifer is. And that new age Bible version that he is holding in his hand, basically

removes Lucifer's name from a passage that is a negative connotation, and instead of

Lucifer being cast out of heaven, has JESUS being cast out of heaven. So in the NIV, the

only mention of the morning star is to say that it's JESUS, and to have him be CAST OUT

of heaven for WHAT? For trying to be as the most HIGH! JESUS IS AS THE MOST HIGH! And

basically the NIV is accusing him of being a fraud. He really IS GOD. Jesus really is

as the most High. Jesus does also sit in the sides of the north. His throne... "The throne

of God and of the Lamb", I mean, HE IS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER! Jesus is at

the right hand of the Father, that book says Jesus is going to be cast to hell for trying

to be at the right hand of the Father. No it was Lucifer who tried to be at the right

hand of the Father. HE was cast out. HE was rejected. And so that is a very Satanic book.

Go to REvelation and I will be almost done. Go there in your None-Inspired-Version as

well, the NIV. That's what the NIV stands for. The "Non Inspired Version", because it's

not inspired by God. You say "well, it's easier to understand". Of course it is for the unsaved

man. That's because you have to be saved to understand the Holy Bible because it is written

by God and it is spiritually discerned. A man can understand a book that's written by

man. And you say "I don't like the King James!" That just tells me you're not saved. Because

the Bible says those that are saved, the sheep, they know the voice of the shepherd. And if

you say you don't like God's word, you have a problem. And by the way, I don't think that

that book is any easier to understand at all. It's been proven, that NIV is filled with

big words. It's filled with complicated grammatical constructions. A small child can understand

the King James version. But people don't like the King James. Maybe they just don't like

the word "sodomite", maybe they just don't like the word "hell". Maybe they just don't

like the word "damnation". Maybe they just don't like the word "pisseth". Maybe they

don't like the word "damned" or "bastard". Maybe they just don't like the language of

God's word because sometimes, God's word uses some strong language. Well you know what?

Maybe we should just let God decide what is in his word, instead of going "oh, I don't

like... Just sounds so harsh". It's the word of God. Quit standing in judgment of God.

He is God. He can say whatever he wants. And in fact, his word is perfect. And in fact,

I LIKE IT. But he says in Revelation right after this curse on anyone who would ever

tamper with the scripture... And notice, who is he speaking to according to verse ? "For

I testify unto" who? "EVERY MAN that heareth the words of the prophecy". Is there anybody

he is not talking to? Anybody who hears this, he is talking to. Look at the next thing he

says. "He which testifieth these things saith", verse , "Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even

so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." So the

Bible ends with a curse and then a blessing. The curse is upon anyone who will tamper with

God's word. And then the blessing is put upon all man. He just reaches out to EVERYBODY.

He says "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." That's a prayer that

is for all men to receive the grace of God. Because God is not willing that any should

perish but that all should come to repentence. THat's the last verse in the Bible, a blessing

upon all men, God hoping that they'll be saved. Obviously there is a time when it becomes

too late for people. But at some point, God wants everybody to be saved. He gives everybody

a chance until they seal their fate. Read for us from the NIV. And keep in mind, God

just finished saying "don't change it, don't add, don't take away!" Look what the NIV does

to verse . You look down at your Bible, read it brother Garrett. (Bro Garrett- "The

grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.") Now that's a big difference, isn't

it? Revelation :, and in the NIV, nice and loud brother Garrett, one more time. (Bro

Garrett- "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.") So the big difference,

the colossal difference between what the King James is saying and the NIV, is that the King

James wants God's grace to be extended to EVERYBODY, to everybody who hears the words

of the book. He said "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you ALL. Amen." That's

a God who wants everybody to be saved. That's a God who is saying "whosoever will, let him

take the water of life freely. That's a God who TASTED DEATH ON THE CROSS FOR EVERY MAN,

wanting EVERYONE to be saved. Now look, not everyone is going to be saved, it becomes

too late, those who have died without Christ, it's too late. Those who blaspheme the Holy

Ghost, it's too late. But he is not willing that any should perish, he wants all to be

saved. But in the NIV, who is the blessing of the grace upon? It says it's just for God's

people. See, that's a great version for the Calvinists. "Well, God's grace is only extended

to..." No, the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to ALL MEN. But not

in the NIV. It's only for God's people. No, the grace of God is available to anybody.

But let me tell you something. The grace of God is not going to save you unless you have

faith. Unless you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Because the Bible tells us, "howbeit

the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard

it". The Bible says "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:

it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." The Bible says that

Jesus Christ is the saviour of ALL MEN, specially of those that believe." So Jesus is the saviour

of those who don't believe. He is the saviour of the world. The Father sent the Son to be

the saviour of the world. But, it's not going to do you any good unless you have faith,

unless you believe. He is the saviour of all men, specially of those that believe. That

means he is the saviour of those who don't believe. That means that the grace of God

has appeared unto those who don't believe. But, the only way to be saved is that you

have to put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Jesus Christ looked

at the woman that wept at his feet who had sinned much, he said unto her, "go thy way,

thy FAITH hath saved thee". See, we're saved by our faith and God's grace. God supplies

the grace, we supply the faith. Our faith in Christ, God's grace. That's what saves

us. Calvinism is a false doctrine. But see how just a small subtle change that probably

most people maybe wouldn't even notice, the difference between "the grace of our Lord

Jesus Christ be with you ALL", and let it be with God's people. You say "well, the book

of Revelation is just written to the seven churches." Well you know what? He just finished

saying that he is testifying unto everyone that hears the prophecy of this book. And

to prove that he is not only talking to the saved, he even talked about a warning to those

that would tamper with it, which obviously is a warning to the unsaved. He is talking

to saved and unsaved. Now look, the book of Revelation is primarily to show unto his servants

the things which must shortly come to pass. But, in chapter , there are some very specific

pleas to the unsaved, where he says "come take the water of life freely! Don't try to

change my word! Don't try to tamper with it!" And when he gives that blessing at the end,

it's for all. "The grace of our Lord Jesus CHrist be with you all. Amen. We need to understand

that every word of God is pure. And we need to understand and take it very seriously when

someone is tampering with God's word. And look, if you can't trust the Bible in your

hand, who can you trust? Stay away from these modern versions. They're coming out with a

new one every week, and they are corrupting God's word. We need to stay with the tried

and the true. The Bible that God has used and blessed for the last years in the

english language. The Bible that matches up with previous versions in other languages,

was diligently compared to the previous translations, that is God's word preserved down to us today

in . And not be carried about with every wind of doctrine, every new Bible that comes

down the pipe, written by a bunch of people that are casting Jesus out of heaven, and

they put Lucifer in charge. And that's just scratching the surface. I could go all night

just showing you the blasphemy of that book. But all that to say this. The book of Revelation

is a book that we need to be reading. Blessed is he that readeth, blessed is he that heareth.

And let's testify this in the churches. If you're in this room and you're going to be

a Pastor someday, you better learn to preach this book. Preach the whole book. Preach Genesis,

but preach Revelation. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father we thank

you so much for your word and we thank you for all the things that we've learnt from

the book of Revelation. I just pray that you would please bless us now as we go our separate

ways dear Lord. And please just give wisdom and understanding to all those that are here

tonight. And in Jesus' name we pray these things, Amen.