Revelation 16:15-21

15 Behold, I am going to come like a thief! Blessed (happy, to be envied) is he who stays awake (alert) and who guards his clothes, so that he may not be naked and [have the shame of being] seen exposed!

I know that I have harped on this a lot in these posting of Revelation, but once again we see Jesus speak of the Church here. I heard it preached all of the time, that in the Book of Revelation, the Church is not mentioned after Chapter 4 until Chapter 20, and that is just flat out wrong. If you haven’t heard this, well count your blessings, but if you have heard it preached, I hope that you see now just how wrong the teaching is.

The Truth that brings us peace with this verse is that we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of our redemption, Ephesians 4:30. Jesus is our Shepherd and greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world, 1 John 4:4. We are crucified with Christ and nevertheless we live, yet it is not us who lives, it is Christ within us who lives, Galatians 2:20. Our lives are dead and hid in Christ is God, Colossians 3:3. Our Father has placed His Spirit within us and He causes us to walk in His statutes and He causes us to keep His judgments, Ezekiel 36:27. The Truth for us that passes all understanding is that if we are called and chosen by our Father to be here during the Great Tribulation, then through the power of Christ we will be awake! There is no fear in the perfect love of Christ!

16 And they gathered them together at the place which in Hebrew is called Armageddon. [II Kings 9:27.]

17 Then the seventh [angel] emptied out his bowl into the air, and a mighty voice came out of the sanctuary of heaven from the throne [of God], saying, It is done! [It is all over, it is all accomplished, it has come!]

18 And there followed lightning flashes, loud rumblings, peals of thunder, and a tremendous earthquake; nothing like it has ever occurred since men dwelt on the earth, so severe and far-reaching was that earthquake.

19 The mighty city was broken into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And God kept in mind mighty Babylon, to make her drain the cup of His furious wrath and indignation.

20 And every island fled and no mountains could be found.

21 And great (excessively oppressive) hailstones, as heavy as a talent [between fifty and sixty pounds], of immense size, fell from the sky on the people; and men blasphemed God for the plague of the hail, so very great was [the torture] of that plague.

The two witnesses will have just been raised up before this all begins, Revelation 11:11-12. Great fear will fall on the whole world for they will see them raised from the dead. The anti-christ and his armies have all been gathered to Armageddon by the demons, the worlds water supply is ruined, the sun is scorching millions, the world can see that these things are not touching us, the last days are going to be miserable for the lost.

But amen the world will see Jesus, who will restore all things, returning from the east like a bolt of lightning. The world will see the dead in Christ rising and those that are alive in Him  being caught up. This is the last day’s events! It will come quickly and every last being that took the mark of the beast will be destroyed. Satan will be bound, the anti-christ and the false prophet will be hurled into the Lake of Fire, and Jesus will begin His thousand year rule and reign. Those who are here will finally have their rest. They may have their rest from being transformed as the Bride. They may have their rest by being set free from the devastation of Great Tribulation. But either way, those who are alive at this time will have rest.

Think of 3 1/2 years ago in your life. For most of us it seems like just yesterday. All of the events of the Great Tribulation happens that quickly. The anti-christ and false prophet come on the scene and they are gone just as fast as they came.