Revelation 20 - Nathanael

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14‭-‬15 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.20.14-15.NIV

The second death - that place of torment and suffering that we commonly refer to as hell. It is a place of separation - but not of separation of our body from our spirit which is the first death or physical death. No it is a place of separation from God and from others. A place of extreme isolation forever - the second death. 

Thanks be to God for his wonderful and indescribable gift! Jesus Christ who takes away our sins and writes our names in the lamb's book if life. Not because of our good works but because of his love for us! 

Thank you Jesus for rescuing a sinner such as I!

Revelation 19 - Nathanael

At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, "Don't do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers and sisters who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For it is the Spirit of prophecy who bears testimony to Jesus."

Revelation 19:10 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.19.10.NIV

I think it is interesting to see how the angel responds when John starts to worship him. He quickly says "No" and says to only worship God. 

This whole book is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It tells us of his glory, power and his return. 

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith! 

Revelation 18 - Nathanael

They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: " 'Woe! Woe to you, great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!'  "Rejoice over her, you heavens! Rejoice, you people of God! Rejoice, apostles and prophets! For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you."

Revelation 18:19‭-‬20 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.18.19-20.NIV

These end time  pictures are quite interesting. There is both a spiritual and a physical component. 

From the physical side it seems at current time that the US best fits some of the descriptions with the ships of the sea becoming rich through her great wealth. The second part doesn't quite fit -at least not at this time - since the US isn't inflicting judgement on the apostles and prophets. 

The spiritual side of this is easier to understand in a way, since the spiritual forces of evil are more clearly already at work in our world. 

The great news is that we know the end of the story: Jesus is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings! He had the victory and to him belongs all glory and power! 

Revelation 15 - Nathanael

And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Revelation 15:8 NIV

It is interesting that in this scene of God's judgement on the earth, the temple is filled with his glory in such a strong way that no one can enter. It reminds me of the situation when Solomon built and then consecrated the temple. 

God's glory is revealed in his presence, in being worshiped and in his judgement.

Revelation 14 - Nathanael

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water."

Revelation 14:6‭-‬7 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.14.6-7.NIV

Even at the end of time God is calling for people to repent and come to him and find forgiveness and life. 

While God could just destroy everything that is evil, the Bible says that he is being patient, not wanting anyone to perish. He knows that in that large group of evil that there are people who he is going to redeem and set free- just like he did for me!  thank you Jesus for your love, mercy and patience. 

Revelation 10 - Nathanael

And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say, "Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down."

Revelation 10:4 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.10.4.NIV

God  tells us a lot about the end times in this book but there are still things that remain hidden until later.

God is good and amazing and powerful. He holds the whole earth in his hands and he knows all that will happen in the future. It is good for us to put our trust in him because he loves us! 

Thank you Jesus for your love! 

Revelation 8 - Nathanael

The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of God's people, went up before God from the angel's hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.

Revelation 8:4‭-‬5 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.8.4-5.NIV

There are a lot of horrible judgements that come on the earth in this chapter. 

The main key to understanding this is the time-frame - when does this happen?

After a few more chapters I'll weigh in with my two cents on that. For now, suffice it to say that it is sometime in the future. 

It is interesting to see the prayers of God's people coming into the picture and the imagery used to describe them. They are like a fragrant offering to God, mixed with incense. So they 'smell' good and are pleasing to God, and they affect his actions. 

Thank you God that you in your power and glory care about and are pleased with us! 

Revelations 6 - Nathanael

In chapter 4 the book of Revelations took a turn in focus as described in verse 1 and 2: After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, "Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this."  At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on it.

Revelation 4:1‭-‬2 NIV

http://bible.com/111/rev.4.1-2.NIV

So John is now "in spirit" - perhaps like a vision - and is now seeing from heaven's perspective and is seeing "what must take place after this" - in other words he is seeing future events. 

In chapter 6 he sees Jesus opening up 7 seals on a scroll and with each opened, something happens.  It seems that each of these is like a span of time and events that will happen in that time period. In  fact this is somewhat of a table of contents about the rest of the book of Revelations. Here we are seeing a summary of upcoming descriptions that will go into greater detail. 

Outline of historical time stages:

1) conquest - this happened much from Jesus time up through World War two. There is still some happening but much less. It even ended more before that time. 

2) peace gone - certainly peace has been a goal of the world for a limb time but starting with the formation of the United Nations this has been a global goal, though as this describes, it is an elusive goal. 

3) famine - we certainly have had famines in places of the world, but this seems to me like a future events on a global scale

4) 1/4 of world dies. I think this is future 

5) persecution of believers - certainly now more than in the past.  I think more to come in future

6) moon red, calamity with stars, wrath of God that people are hiding from

God knows the future and has described what will happen. It is  cause for us to draw neat to God and put our trust in his goodness and love!