The end of the book...

Every story has some basic components that are universally agreed on.

• A beginning
• A midpoint
• An ending
• Setting
• Plot
• Characters
• Conflict
• Theme

Your story, my story, our story - this does not differ. When/how/where these components are laid out - that can very. One component that is universally the same: we all have the same author.

Hebrews 12:2  (NASB)

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We are not an accident. We have a purpose. God has known us since before our birth. I remember hearing recently that the word "formed" doesn't give the right context - we miss what is being conveyed. Several translations imply knit (as with 2 knitting needles), but actually it is more along the lines of crochet.

Neither of which is exactly easy, both require a great deal of focus and attention.

Did you get that? When God made you, made me, in our mother's womb - it wasn't just cells bumping together by chance. God crocheted our form together with great focus and detail - making us a unique individual.

Jeremiah 1:5 (NASB)

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

And before you were born I consecrated you;

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

Where am I going with all of this?

Our story will one day end: by death or Jesus returns.

If you have not read the Bible, you might be confused about what I means when I say Jesus returns. There is rich book of the Bible that is filled with description of a vision the Apostle John had. It is at the end of the book. It is the last book of the books of the Bible.

The Book of Revelation.

Yes, singular. The Apostle John saw many things, but it was a single revelation, a single event occurrence. 

I came to salvation through the preaching and teaching of the Book of Revelation at a revival when i was 13. Since then, I have read it numerous times individually, had it preached through (all 22 chapters) once, done the Precept study on it (took 2 years), and am again listening to it preached from the pulpit. 

The Book of Revelation outlines events yet to come (prophecy). God has outlined His plan to redeem Israel and the events that must occur for that to happen. What kicks off this redemption of the apple of God's eye, is the church being raptured - where Jesus meets believers in the air before the wrath of God is poured out in order of seals, trumpets and bowls. 

Zechariah 2  (NASB)

God’s Favor to Zion

2 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.” 3 And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him, 4 and said to him, “Run, speak to that young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the multitude of men and cattle within it. 5 For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

6 “Ho there! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord. 7 “Ho, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.” 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After glory He has sent me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. 9 For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be plunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me. 10 Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 12 The Lord will possess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

13 “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.”

All believers in this current age, The Age of Grace, The Church Age need to reconcile with is the fact that yes God set about to redeem all of mankind - Jew and Gentile, but Israel is the apple of His eye. And though we gentiles have been adopted into the family, and receive all the richness and glory and blessings of salvation - Israel is set apart. Israel has been sanctified apart from all the other nations. And even though they have repeatedly turned their back and fist towards God, He has never, not once given up or stopped pursuing them. And the end of the book tells us how He plans to redeem them, bring them back to them. 

In the next few days and weeks I will share my notes on the Book of Revelation from the sermon series we are going through.I do have notes that I will share from other sources that enriches the notes I have from my pastor. I do not currently have sermon notes on the letter to the churches - our pastor plans to do those at the end of the sermon series. But, I do have notes from the precept study I did, and will share those. We believers need to be familiar with all parts of scripture, even the end of the book because we have a duty as watchmen to warn others about what is coming. 

Ezekiel 3:16-21 (NASB)

16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me. 18 When I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to warn the wicked from his wicked way that he may live, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 Yet if you have warned the wicked and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered yourself. 20 Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 However, if you have warned the righteous man that the righteous should not sin and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; and you have delivered yourself.”