Saturday 112324
(I post this morning’s lesson in the hope that someone would read what I have written and that they would think for just a moment, what is it that they actually believe in. Remember, we MUST believe in Jesus Christ and that He died for our sins and that He was Resurrected from the tomb. InHIM)
Don’t let me or my writings influence or scare you in any way, instead, allow me to be used as a vessel to open the Word, just a little bit, and hopefully, together we are going to read and study His Word, and let God teach us what He wants us to hear.
So, our study consists of two ground rules:
1st we ONLY read and follow what is found in the Holy Bible.
2nd we ONLY learn from a study by what effort we put into that study.
The verses we are going to study tonight:
Matthew 7:13-14; Mark 4:11, 4:1, 9; Revelation 1:19 and 20, 10:7, 17:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:7; Revelation 17:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:17c.
This morning (some time ago), I posted an article on Facebook.
The most common sin committed against God has been mankind’s UNBELIEF in Him. Throughout history, ALL of history, from the Garden all the way through the 21st century, man has turned our backs on God, and we’ve determined that we were going to serve the god that we wanted to follow rather than the God we find inside the Bible. I invite you to a study where we are ONLY going to use what the Holy Bible tells us. The Word doesn’t give us an exact date as to when this world will end … I pray and hope that you are inspired enough to SEEK Him before that day, when it is finished. (07/12/2024)
Over the past few months, I am unsure how many different lessons I have spoken on UNBELIEF that can be seen throughout the span of time. It would be easier for us to name those individuals that have believed and followed the words God has spoken to us.
This is the reason the path is so narrow that Jesus speaks about in the Bible.
Matthew 7
vs13 ‘…Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat…’
vs14 ‘…Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it…’ KJV (King James Version)
Found in a newer version:
vs13 ‘…Go in through the narrow gate to get true life with God. There is a wide gate that is easy to go through. The wide path is easy to travel on. Many people find that wide gate, but it is the way to hell…’
vs14 ‘…It is difficult to go through the small gate. And it is difficult to walk on the narrow road. But when you do go that way, you will get true life. Not many people find that narrow gate…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
We will find that narrow gate when we BELIEVE. When we believe in the God found in the Bible not the god, we choose to believe in. When we study His Word and we read and follow it to the letter, it will be on that day when we will find the narrow gate.
There are a few words used in the Bible that we should focus on before we make any decision how we are going to follow His teachings.
The first word we are going to focus on is the word: ‘MYSTERY.’
In the Strong’s Concordance, the word mystery is in twenty-two different verses so we will look at these verses.
Of the twenty-two times we find the word used, the apostle Paul uses the word all but five times. Mark uses it once and John four times, in the book of Revelation.
Mark 4:11 ‘…And He was saying to them, To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything is done in parables…’ BLB (Berean Literal Bible)
John Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark. The son of Elijah and Mary Mark, John Mark became a follower of Jesus after witnessing the disciples’ teachings with John the Baptist. He served as a helper to the apostles and is portrayed as a young lad during Jesus’ life. The apostle Simon Peter influenced the gospel of Mark, at whose urging Mark decided to write it soon after Peter’s death in 67 CE.
In this verse from Mark, Jesus is teaching a crowd of people near the edge of Lake Galilee.
vs1 ‘…Again, Jesus began to teach people near the edge of Lake Galilee. A large crowd came together to listen to him. So he went and sat in a boat that was on the water. The crowd of people stayed on the shore…’ EASY (Easy English Bible)
Jesus began teaching the parable about the Sower.
vs9 ‘…And Jesus concluded, Listen, then, if you have ears…’ GNT (Good News Translation)
Jesus taught of God’s Kingdom or taken from the BLB (Berean Literal Bible), the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God, in Christianity is the spiritual realm over which God reigns as king, or the fulfillment on Earth of God’s will. The phrase occurs frequently in the New Testament, primarily used by Jesus Christ in the first three gospels. Jesus was teaching the Jews of the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies or promises. The teachings of Jesus, before He was crucified, buried, and rose again from the dead, were teachings different than GRACE. Grace was not known about until that day when Jesus confronts Saul on his way to Damascus.
What we read from the Bible can be defined as a mystery since the only one that knows for sure what is being taught is God Himself. If it were simple and clear, the word mystery would never have been used.
The word mystery is used four times by John in the book of Revelation.
Revelation 1:20, 10:7, 17:5 and :7.
The Book of Revelation communicates the future of the world. The author believes the followers of Christ will be rewarded with paradise, while the evil people of the world will be punished by a series of great disasters and destruction. Good will ultimately triumph and create a paradise for the followers of Christ.
Revelation, however, is split into three parts:
These different parts are split into groups of words, that show PAST, PRESENT and FUTURE tenses in the verse. A ‘tense’ is the verb that describes the action in a sentence. It also tells us when the action happens.
Revelation 1:19 ‘…Therefore write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after these things…’ NASB (New American Standard Bible)
John was told to write the things he had seen, the things that are, and the things after these things.
The very next verse, Revelation 1:20 is the first verse John uses the word ‘mystery.’
Revelation 1:20 ‘…The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches…’ KJV (King James Version)
The mystery from Revelation 1 is the revealing of the church in the New Testament.
This church in the New Testament is you and me.
It is a forewarning or prophesy of God’s plans for the believers in Jesus Christ. God put on hold the ministry through the nation of Israel until the Tribulation and the 2nd Coming of Jesus.
I hope I have shown clearly in past studies, but the Tribulation will not begin until after the church has been removed from this earth; this will be the RAPTURE of the church.
I truly believe the church, you and I, and ALL the BELIEVERS of the Word, will be removed before the next three uses of the word ‘mystery’ are used.
I have tried my best to define the last three verses where John uses the word ‘mystery.’
Revelation 10:7 ‘…But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets…’ KJV (King James Version)
A ‘mystery’ in the Biblical sense, is something that was not previously known, but is later revealed. A secret is never disclosed. When the angel declares that the ‘mystery of God should be finished,’ it means that the full disclosure of God has been finished, another words, ALL is complete … the end is here upon us.
Revelation 17:5 ‘…And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth…’ KJV (King James Version)
In the Book of Revelation, the ‘Mother Of Harlots’ is a symbolic female figure called ‘Mystery, Babylon The Great.’ Her name is ‘MYSTERY.’ Not the mystery of godliness, that she dislikes and opposes, but rather the mystery of iniquity, which is the name the antichrist went by in the Apostle Paul’s time, when he was but in embryo.
2 Thessalonians 2:7 ‘…For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way…’ KJV (King James Version)
She’s described as being drunk on the blood of martyrs and saints, and is adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls (Rev 17:6).
Revelation 17:7 ‘…And the angel said unto me, wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns…’ KJV (King James Version)
The angel is the same one who showed John a vision of a “great prostitute” in Revelation 17:1–6. This symbolic woman represents the religious aspect of Babylon, which is a metaphor for evil and the opposition to God’s rule by world powers. The beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries the woman is subordinate to her, unlike the Sea Beast, which is another beast with seven heads and ten horns.
Revelation is a difficult book to teach as well as to read and comprehend, but with that being said, we, ‘the church,’ you and I and ALL the believers found in this world, we will ALL be raptured to remain with Jesus ALWAYS.
1 Thessalonians 4:17c ‘…And thus we shall always be with the Lord…’ NKJV (New King James Version)
Jesus, I pray that those ears and eyes, either listening or seeing this message today would be opened to the very fullest and allow Your love to come inside their lives and comfort them. Teach us Jesus. Protect us. We love You. Amen
InHIM. ><)))o>
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