Continuing with our theme of “training for reigning” by seeking to understand the book of Revelation, we can see that the entire church—and the world—will go through great troubles before His coming kingdom. These tribulations are for the purpose of helping the church, and then the world, enter the kingdom of God. As the apostle Paul said in Acts 14:22, “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.” So, tribulations are a gateway to the kingdom for us, and ultimately for the whole world.

      The Lord said, “In the world you will have tribulation” (see...

      As we have covered, the first sentence of Revelation is the compass that we must follow to stay on course to understand its vision. It is, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants” (see Revelation 1:1). This is a revelation of Jesus Christ to His bondservants. So, this revelation is for those who have this discipline and life as a bondservant of Christ.

      This does not mean that we cannot understand some of the things in Revelation—and maybe even a lot—before we are a bondservant. If we are not yet...

      It can be the greatest excitement to see how perfectly biblical prophecies have been fulfilled. Seeing this is not only encouraging, but it can give us a clearer picture of what is happening today—and what is about to happen. Such knowledge of the future will soon be the most valuable knowledge we can have, second only to our knowledge of God. The value of this will increase as we get closer to the end of the age and the times become more chaotic and intense.

      As we mature in our knowledge of the Lord and His Word, we...

       Last week, we touched on the differences between living in fear and living by faith. This week, I want to pause our discussion of Revelation to talk about to keep fear from overtaking our faith as we get closer to the end of the age. Below is an excerpt from my book Overcoming Fear.

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       In these last days, the battle raging for the soul of man is intensifying dramatically. This battle is being fought in every individual, every church, every city, and every nation. If we do not understand this conflict, we will be defeated. This...

      Some consider it dangerous to seek revelation from angels, since cults and sects have started that way. That is true, so we need to acknowledge and learn how this has happened to avoid the same mistakes. It is dangerous to receive revelations from angels, but probably not as dangerous as not receiving them.

      Almost everything we do is dangerous, but we don’t stop doing everything because of it. If we are wise, we learn how to do things safely. Driving a car can be one of the most dangerous things we do, but we don’t stop driving...