All right, so we're reading through the book of Revelation right now. We're going to move into the books that were written to the church at Thessalonica, and then we're going to revisit the book of Daniel next month. So these are all really some prophetic truths that are going to run together. They're going to tie in and and all playing together like I read in Zechariah did. So anything, we're up to what, chapter six? Today is the sixth, right? Chapter six, but anything in there that you might be seeing, it's a blessing. He tells us a blessing, right? And he say, it's a blessing to read it, to hear it and keep it. It is an unveiling of Jesus that he gave to servants. You gotta be a servant, that's the key. It's an unveiling of himself to his servants, to his servants. That makes all the difference in the world. If you look in chapter one and verse number one, even though it's telling us about events and things that are gonna happen to those that are not his servants, the message is for his servants, it's for us. To see and he says that the revelation of Jesus Christ and that word revelation means an unveiling an uncovering of Jesus Christ Which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly come take place and he, Jesus, sent and signified by his angel to his servant, John. When you look at that idea of that being signified or made known, if you go over to chapter 22, I believe it is, look over in chapter 22, look in verse number six. And these are some of the things that I think he's given the idea of he signified it made known what to do with it by the angel. Now, it doesn't tell us exactly who the angel is. It's just a servant of the Lord to his servant, John, who was to pin these things for the servants of Jesus, which we would be included in that. But in chapter 22, this is where I think we see the idea coming from. from that perspective like verse 6. Then he said to me, this would be the angel, he said to me these words are what faithful and true and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things which must shortly take place. That's just a reiterating what he already said in chapter one of this message came. It's almost like he's, he's given him some instruction on it. that verse number seven, behold, I come quickly blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy of this book. Now, verse number eight, now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things. And he said to me, see that you do not do that for I am your fellow servant and of your brethren, the prophets and of those who keep the words of this book, worship God, worship God. And he said to me, do not seal the words of this prophecy of this book for the time is what? At hand. And the reason that is because there's been other times in past God revealed things that were to come to his servants, but he told them to seal it up. It wasn't time to reveal it yet, but here he's indicating, the word signify means to indicate, he's indicating to him what to do with it. So the angel, the messenger is indicating, making known what to do. Verse 11, he who is unjust, let him be unjust still. Now that doesn't mean you leave them there, you recognize you got an unjust person. Don't let anybody try to convince you they're just when they're not just because only justice comes through Jesus. You'll have people like in all generations say, well, I trust God, but you can serve Jesus if you want to. Well, there's no way to trust God except what? Through Jesus. So he's given clarity to us of he who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still meaning let them be what they are let them be what they are but you don't leave them in the sense of where they are now the holy and the righteous man You got a brother and a sister in that, but those that don't belong to the Lord, now you got somebody to be praying for to come to the Lord. And then we read the rest of it. And I think that is what it is indicating when it says in chapter number one, and then here that this messenger, this angel was indicating what to do with this book, what to do with it, how to work it out. Look back in chapter five, look in five. And I think this scroll, there are different interpretations of what this scroll is. Some have referred to it. I may have even referred to it in days gone by as what some would call a title deed to the earth. Now, is it the title deed to the earth? We don't exactly know, but I've got an indication from our time in Zechariah Remember, there was a scroll mentioned in Zechariah. And in Zechariah, it gives the dimensions of that scroll, that it was 33 feet tall and 15 feet wide. And there was a curse that was written on one side and a curse written on the other side of it. And in that was a curse that was assigned to everybody who was a thief Everybody who was who bared false witness a thief and a false witness now when we see the scroll in chapter 5 there's only one person found in heaven and Upon the earth and under the earth that was worthy to open the scrolls Remember John, when he initially saw it, look what it says in verse number one of chapter five. And I saw on the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a scroll written inside and on the back sealed with seven seals. Now the scroll that we find in Zechariah chapter five was written on the inside and on the back. And he says, then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll in the lucid seals. That was a common thing in that day when they did have a scroll, they would put seals on it. And a seal was usually a wax seal that had an insignia upon it so that when you sent a scroll or a letter to someone and they sealed it, like we do today, we put it in an envelope and it's sealed, but they didn't have envelopes. So they'd put seals on it to ensure that when it got to the person, that it was intended to get to, it hadn't been opened. That was the part of the seal. Well, this particular scroll, there was nobody, according to what we read here, who is worthy. Verse three, and no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to even look at it. So I, John, wept much. because no one was found worthy to open and read the scroll or even to look at it. But one of the elders said to me, do not weep, behold, the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David has prevailed to open the scroll and the lucid seven seals. And I looked and behold in the midst of the throne of the four living creatures, And in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Then he came and took the scroll out of the right hand of him who sat on the throne. Now, when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense. And these incense are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. And the song they sang is, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. For you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation. and have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the numbers of them, which were 10,000 times 10,000 and the thousands of thousands." You're talking about a big number. Saying with a loud voice, worthy is who? The lamb. Now we know who the lamb is, right? That's Jesus. He's the lamb. Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power, riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in the heavens or the skies and on the earth And that which is the creeping things under the earth and such are in the sea and all that are in them, I heard them say it. Blessings and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever. Then the four living creatures said amen and the 24 elders fell down and worshiped him who lives forever. Nobody was worthy to open the scroll. except the lamb. Now, whatever this particular scroll is, some, like I said, some Bible teachers through the years, really good Bible teachers refer to it as a title deed. And they take that from the perspective of that when Adam and Eve was created and God gave Adam the dominion to have upon the earth and Adam, when he transgressed and sinned he yielded that title over to the enemy and now the enemy has had control over the earth since that time frame and the lamb is in their idea is the one who did what was necessary to take back control of that title deed and only he could open it But when you think about the scriptures as a whole, the Bible on too many occasions, and I could list just several of them just off top of my head, that says the earth and the fullness thereof belongs to God. Even though the enemy is the prince of the power of the air, he's the ruler of the darkness of this age, he's the ruler over that which is darkness, but he's still not owner and possessor and sovereign over everything, that only belongs to God. And the Bible's clear on that. I mean, you could read Proverbs 16, 4, Psalm 24, 1, Proverbs 16, 4, Deuteronomy 10, Psalm 19 talks about the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament, his handiwork and that the earth and the fullness of it and all who dwell in it. Matter of fact, look at Psalm 24. Let's just go look at it. And these are some of the reasons why I would say that there is no reason for that having to happen for everything belongs to God to begin with. He allows the enemy to do what he does. But in Psalm 24, look in verse one, notice this, this would include that even the enemy is subject to God. And all God's people said, yeah, he doesn't do what he wants when he wants. He only can do what he's been permitted to do. Now he does do, and he is in rebellion too, but we know what his end's gonna be. But verse one, look at 24 one, the earth is whose? It's the Lord's. And not just the earth, but what? all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein. For God has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters." And that to me, that, I mean, that's pretty clear, isn't it? Everything belongs to who? To God. So therefore everything's accountable to him to begin with. Now man's fallen and man needed to be redeemed, no doubt. But look over and go to Proverbs. Let's just look at Proverbs real quick. Proverbs, look in 16. And there's other Proverbs. I'm just giving you just a couple to say that I don't know if I can run with that thought. And I'm gonna give you the idea of what I think he's dealing with with this scroll based on what we've already read, based on what the scriptures teach, and then how this all unfolds in Revelation. But in 16, look in verse number four. Look in verse number four. The Lord has made what? All for himself. We just read that in Revelation four, that God created everything for his glory and all things exist through him. So Lord has made all things for his glory. Yes, even who? the wicked and he's got a purpose for the wicked for the day of doom, the day of destruction, the day of calamity. That is saying that God uses the wicked at his disposal whenever he wants to use them, however he wants to use them. We see that with what Babylon, we see that with how we use the enemy. Matter of fact, when you consider how he used the enemy to test his son, In the wilderness for those 40 days and 49 remember when he entertained the enemy and said what do you consider my servant Job and he allowed the enemy to do what he did to Joe, but that just tells us that all things in Every kind of way belong to the Lord look over in Deuteronomy 10. I think it's Deuteronomy 10 We get another little glimpse of it We sing a song, don't we? This world is my father's world. What's that hymn we sing? This is my father's world. And it is, and it is. 10.14, 10.14, I believe. Yeah, indeed heaven and the highest of heavens belongs to the Lord your God. Also, the earth with all that is what? In it. And I believe what the word says, right? So we do, we believe that, okay, this is God's word. There was no need for title deed to be turned back over. He owns it all anyway, it's his, and everything's gonna give an account to him. So I think just by the little bit that we've read, we could then only take what that principle being taught is trying to wedge something into the truth that the truth doesn't say itself. But what the truth does say is that God owns it all. Everything's his, the fullness thereof, everyone and everything in it belongs to him and is accountable to him. The heavens and the highest of the heavens. So anything that has access to the heavens or anything that has access to the earth and everything else belongs to him. and he will do with it as he sees fit. So with that in thought, look in Zechariah again, go back to Zechariah chapter five. If you go to Matthew, Malachi, then Zechariah. I think this scroll could be, I'm not gonna just say there's no doubt that it is because we just don't know, but it makes, good sense that we see, because Zechariah and Revelation, there's been a lot of things that have been brought to light through this. Just for an example, look over in chapter three of Zechariah. I said five, and we're going to look at five, but I'm just going to show you a couple of little ties into this. Well, chapter three gives us an indication that we have an accuser. Remember we talked about this a couple of Wednesday nights ago. when we were in Zachariah, that this accuser, Satan, that we're gonna read about in chapter 12 of Revelation, who always accuses the brethren, and how do we overcome him? By the blood of the Lamb, and the word of our testimony, and that we love not our lives even unto the death. That's how you overcome the accusation. And we have an advocate, just like he had an advocate right here. We see that. Then you look over in verse number eight of chapter three. Here, oh Joshua, the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign, for behold, I am bringing my servant, who? The branch, right? Who's this branch? Well, Revelation talked about him too, as being what? The root of David. This branch is the root of David. We know who the branch is, it's Jesus. We know that Jesus is the lamb. Well, verse number nine, for behold the stone that I've laid before Joshua upon the stone are what? Seven eyes. Revelation talks about what? The seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave this inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I'll remove the iniquity out of the land in one day. That's according to Romans 11. That's what God's gonna do at some point with the nation of Israel. He's gonna rid it of all the iniquity. He's gonna transform them all. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his tree. Read down a little bit further. Let's see. You get into chapter four, he's gonna talk about the witnesses. Doesn't he say something about the seven, look, verse two. And he said, what do you see? So I said, I'm looking, and there is what? A lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it. And on the lampstand, seven lamps and seven pipes to the seven lamps, two olive trees are by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and then on the left side of the bowl. And he goes on, he talks about, things you're dealing with both Joshua and Zerubbeal. Remember that's a picture of a priestly king. That's what Jesus came to fulfill. Go in the chapter number five, chapter number five, scroll for an example. He said, remember he didn't open it, but he says what was in it. Verse number two, and he said, what do you see? So I answered, I see a flying scroll. Its length is 20 cubits and its width are 10 cubits. That's 33 by 15. Then he said to me, this is the curse that goes out over the face of not just the local area, but the curse goes out over what? The entire world, the whole world, the whole earth. And this curse is dealing with the thief Every thief shall be cut off or expelled. God's gonna deal with them. God's gonna deal with it. According to this side of the scroll and every perjurer shall be expelled according to that side of it. He said, I will send out the curse, says the Lord of hosts. It shall enter the houses of the thief and the houses of the one who swears falsely, a false witness by my name. This curse will remain in the midst of this house and consume it with its timbers and its stones. So this curse is an all-consuming curse. Now, this is the picture here. How does this curse play out? Well, what does a thief do? What does a thief do? Think about it from that perspective, a thief. He takes that which is not his, it doesn't belong to him. What does a false witness do? They what? They bear false witness. They lie about the evidence that they have. So we're talking about out of all the things that could a curse fall upon the earth. And we're talking about the whole earth. And this is what's in that scroll is dealing with those who take, we're dealing with takers. What does this, these thieves take? They take credit. for what is not rightfully theirs. And that's the idea. What do we see in Revelation 4 and 5? What is everybody doing in heaven and upon the earth in Revelation 4 and 5? What are they ascribing to the lamb who sat upon the throne? They're saying he is what? Worthy of what? All honor and glory and power and dominion and blessing that he is the life giver. He is the one who is the only one worthy to open the scroll. Why? Because in essence, nobody else is worthy. Why? Because everybody else has played part in the what? The taking. We ascribe glory to something else. We ascribe glory to ourself, meaning we thought we were doing it our own. You think about it in your own life. Remember how there was a point in your life where you, in your mind, you did what you did and you went where you went. You moved about in life how you moved about. You were your own man, your own guy, your own woman, your own boy, and you took credit for what only should be ascribed to God. Are you with me? That's the idea. Anything and everything we have, is to be what? Given back to him. So these two curses cover the essence of what mankind has done in taking credit and glory for doing this or doing that or having this or having that that my hard work, my mind, my might, my abilities, all that achieved this. And I live without acting or ascribing glory and dominion and wisdom and power and honor to God for the next breath that I took. I took credit for it. You follow with me. That's the earth. And nobody on the earth is without that sin. Everybody falls under that sin. All of us do. Nobody's excluded from it. So when you think about who is worthy on the earth to open such a scroll, there's nobody that can because we're all guilty of it. And then the second thing is not that you take glory, but then you give credit to a way or way of thinking that testifies against the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ himself or the teaching of God as a whole. Meaning God has his way, man has his way, but man says that their way is a legit, qualified way of living and takes credit for it rather than what? Being a true witness to the testimony of God's faithfulness and goodness. So you see how these two curses fall upon every house. Paul upon every person and the only way to be rescued from that curse is you got to be redeemed from it. And the only one that could redeem you from it is the Lamb himself. So when he redeems you from it, he changes how you view who you are and what you do and what you give credit to and how you live life and you start ascribing worth and glory to the Lamb. and the one who sits upon the throne. Remember, he's the only one that what, took upon flesh. The angels that have not sinned don't take credit or glory, but see, they didn't lay their life down for us. So they're not worthy to open it. Jesus took upon flesh, lived a sinless life and everything he did, he ascribed glory to the father and everything he did, the father says he's the faithful and true witness. There's no lie in him. He bared no false witness, see, but we, bear false witness, and then we take credit for achieving what we've achieved on our own. So see, nobody on the earth is qualified. Nobody in heaven was qualified except the lamb who actually took upon flesh, lived a sinless and perfect blameless life that had no false witness, had no falsehood, no lies, and never took credit for any of it, but ascribed it all to his father. And therefore he and he alone is now worthy to open up the scroll. And when he opens the scroll, we know what happens. When he removes the first seal, what do we see come on the scene? An Antichrist, one riding on a white horse. And this is the problem that we find. Look in Thessalonians, go to Thessalonians real quick. To give credit to a lie. to legitimize the lie. 2 Thessalonians. And this is the idea that without being redeemed by the lamb, this curse just consumes you, get consumed in it. Looking about verse number, this is 2 Thessalonians chapter number two. Well, I'm going to read verse 7. And the reason I'm going to read verse 7, because it ties back to Zechariah 5. Remember in Zechariah 5, there was a woman, and that woman was in a basket. And Zechariah was able to see her. And he said, who is this? And he said, she's the spirit of wickedness. She's lawless. She's the spirit of lawlessness. and then he put a cover back on her and covered her up. And then sent her to the land of Shinar, which is the, Shinar means the land of two rivers. It's the idea of the land of multiple choice. It's where Babel began, when men says, we're gonna choose our way rather than God's way. And they built a tower to extend up to God. That's where this root of wickedness and lawlessness is this picture. But look what verse seven says. For the mystery of lawlessness is what? Already at work. It's already at work. It's always been at work, but it's a mystery. Why? Because the woman, this lawless way of doing business our way, remember she's got a cover over. She ain't been exposed yet. So the mystery of lawlessness is already at work and he who now restrains will so will do until He is taken out of the way and then the lawless one, the lawless one, which is the Antichrist, will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with unrighteous deception among those who what? Perish. Why do they perish? Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason, God will send them what? Strong delusion that they should believe what? The false witness. The mystery's already at work. You're exactly right. But there's coming a point in time when This is gonna be so unbearable that as we read in Zechariah, remember the curse? One of the curses, what? Bearing false witness and then taking credit for something that only God deserves the credit for. And it what? It's an all-consuming curse. You can't get out of it once this happens right here. It consumes everything that you all want because you're gonna believe the lawless one. And God's given that strong delusion. And that don't happen though until as far as in its fullness until the scrolls to the seals are starting to be removed. And you see, he's gonna sign a pact with Israel and he's gonna be revealed for who he is in the midpoint of that seven year tribulation period that Revelation 13 is gonna talk about when he comes out of the sea. And this is what this is talking about here. But you see the world is gonna be so caught up in the delusion, they're gonna believe this lie because they wouldn't receive the love of the truth of who? The faithful and true witness who is the Lamb of God. Now they're going to have to suffer the wrath of the Lamb and that's something that people just that's part of the revelation of this Jesus is that the world at their time only saw him as that the people of God only saw him as the lamb who laid his life down for the church, for the people of God. But revelation is saying this same lamb is gonna come with wrath. He's not gonna be the docile, gentle savior that came the first time. When he comes back the second time, he's gonna be the lion of the tribe of Judah, but now the lamb comes with wrath. and you're not gonna be able, it's gonna be a merciless thing, why? Because you got caught up in the curse of what? Here comes the Antichrist, here comes war, here comes famine, and then here comes death and Hades following on these horses that chapter six talks about. Every time he opened the seal, there was something else he saw, he saw a white horse. And on that white horse was he who came to conquer. Well, he's a conqueror. Remember, he had a bow in his hand, but he didn't have any arrows in his hand. Why? Because Daniel and Ezekiel and other places tell us when the Antichrist comes on the scene, he's going to be filled with swelling words of peace. He's going to be a solution and the answer to everybody. And where there's conflict going on, he's going to come in and settle it. He's not going to have to use his bow because he can use his bow, but he's not going to have to use his bow. But then he's going to change his covenant that he makes with a group of people. And now there's going to be wars that break out. There's going to be famines that come and death and Hades are going to come behind. And that's what chapter six, remember when he opens the scroll, each time he opens, the curse is fallen upon those who what? who have taken credit for their own life and then given credit to a way of life that doesn't honor Jesus. And they're trapped in it and there's no way out. It's all consuming. So just in knowing what Zechariah teaches and then now seeing what revelation is unfolding, I can easily see how that scroll that he begins to take the seals off that has these curses in it that come upon the thief who revelation keeps describing this glory only to he who sits on the throne and the lamb where people take that credit and then bearing false witness to the testimony of Jesus saying that he ain't worth everything. And that's the key. If Jesus is worth anything, he's worth what? Everything. He's worth everything. But see the curse is gonna fall on those that don't see him as everything. And therefore they give themselves to everything else. And therefore they say his testimony is what? False. And that's the greatest injustice that any man could ever give to say that the Lord Jesus' testimony ain't worth listening to. And everything he says is worth listening to, trusting, living, seeking, and wanting to know more of how we can honor and glorify him, amen. So I think that these two, whether that I can see how they can be connected much more than I can see that scroll being a title deed because there's no need for a title deed. My God owns it all already, amen. But only his son is the one who lived a faithful and true witness who never took credit while he walked this earth for what he did, he gave all credit to his father. And therefore the father has exalted his name above all names that what every knee shall bow and confess that he's king of kings and Lord of lords. And either we'll do that through his mercy or we'll do that without any mercy in a day when we got to face him. And that's where chapter six, if you look back at chapter revelation six and we'll go, He says that very thing. When you think about the tragedies that are going to come and you think about the, the fearfulness, if you want to say how the world would be before the wrath of Satan or the judgments, notice what verse 12 says in chapter six, I looked when he opened the sixth seal and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair and the moons became like blood and the stars of heaven fell to the earth. And as fig trees drop its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind for the sky itself receded as a scroll when it is rolled up and every mountain and island was moved out of its place. and the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, what did they do? They hid. They hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. And they cried out to the mountains and rocks and pleaded with them to fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from what the wrath of the lamb too late for the great day of his wrath has come and who is able to stand you could only stand if you stood with the lamb but if you didn't stand with the lamb there's nobody that can stand in that day So you look, when you think about that, who are they most afraid of? They're not afraid of the rocks falling on them. They're not afraid of the devil. They're not afraid of the most terrifying things on the earth that men have ever seen. They are terrified to face God in that day and the wrath of the lamb. The same lamb that poured out his blood is the same lamb that's gonna pour out his wrath. So you gotta be covered in the blood. before that day comes. And therefore, that's the only way to stand in that day. You gotta stand with him. As the scripture would teach us, for there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Who can bring a charge against God's elect? None. Why? Because you're covered in the Lamb's blood. And being covered in the Lamb's blood gives you the authority and the right to stand with the Lamb when the Lamb pours out His wrath. and you won't be afraid. Matter of fact, you are with him who fights and when he fights, he always wins. Amen. So you see how all that plays out that I think it has something to do with that curse, which is all consuming on the fact that we can't take credit for anything in this life, especially being made right with a holy God that only belongs to the lamb. therefore we believe his witness his testimony his words are faithful and true and that's who we want to point people to not to any other way of living outside of him because any other way of living is a false way of living and it's a false testimony and therefore we stand on that and the only way we can because see we wasn't worthy to open the scroll either right we had to be redeemed We have to be redeemed. But when you're redeemed, you go from being at war to a worshiper. And that's where you see in four and five, you see the worshipers. But in chapter six, you see a war with those who are warring with the lamb. And there's no way to make it in that day. So any questions, any questions? Ain't he good? Ain't he good? That's why it's so important for us as he closed out the book, look, let them that are wicked, let them be what they are. And that is somebody to pray for. Somebody that we know still needs to be reached with the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore we pray that God would open their understanding, because they're not gonna wanna see him who sits on the throne or the wrath of the lamb either. Whether they acknowledge it now or not, that day's coming. And so we wanna help people, amen? Amen. Father, we bless you and thank you. We ask you to help us with this, that you teach us and that you give us the compassion that you had for laying down your life to rescue those who were at enmity with you, who lived in rebellion like us before you. But you transformed us, you changed us. And now we can't help but come in tune with who's getting all the attention in heaven, and that is you. So we're going to praise you and we're going to thank you and we want to ascribe every ounce of adoration and affection and attention that we have in your direction. So help us point people to you in Jesus name. Amen. Love y'all. Y'all have a good night. Lord willing. Lord willing.