The Seven Seals – Part 1

_______________

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-2-

 

John 3:14   “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

 

John 3:15   that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

 

The “campaign promises” made by Jesus are written in the Bible. Jesus invites us to put our faith in Him. Of course, there are several differences between putting faith in a politician and putting faith in Jesus.

 

When we put our faith in a politician we believe that he will do good things for us. Most people don’t stop to think that after the election is over, politicians become our lawmakers. In other words, politicians aren’t only asking for our vote, they are really asking us to exalt them to the position of “law maker.” It has been said that Congress enacted more than 10,000 laws during the past century. When will there be enough laws? Who can remember 10,000 laws? As I said, putting faith in Jesus is different than putting faith in a politician.

 

When a person puts faith in Jesus Christ, he believes five things:

 

(a)   that the wages of sin is death and that all human beings have sinned

 

(b)   God made a way for sinners to be saved through Jesus. He was our perfect substitute. He died in our place.

 

(c)   that Jesus enables His disciples, through the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit., to live in harmony with His strange teachings. [strange, that is, contrary to the ways of the world.]

 

(d)   that at the appointed time, Jesus will keep His word. He will return to Earth and gather up His children and destroy the wicked.

 

(e)   When we give our hearts to Jesus, we allow Him to become Lord and Master of our life.   “His will, not ours, be done.”

 

The followers of Jesus believe that His demands are righteous and true and they must be obeyed at any cost. This is the meaning of faith in Jesus.

 

John 3:16   “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

 

What did “believing in Jesus” mean to Nicodemus, the Jew, when Jesus spoke these words?

 

Jesus meant:

 

1.   You have to give up your religion. You have to reject what your leaders say about me.

2.   You will have to abandon your culture, with all the rules and its regulations.

3.   You will be ostracized for your faith by your family and friends.

4.   You will not be able to worship in the temple.

 

The price for believing in Jesus can be very expensive!

 

Matthew 10:36   “A man’s enemies will be members of his own household.”

 

Matthew 10:37   “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;

 

Matthew 10:38   and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.”

 

Finding people who will put their faith in Jesus is no small task, but the Holy Spirit was given the task when the first seal was broken and a campaign to reveal Sovereign Jesus to the world in 1798.

 

As each seal is broken open, a new campaign begins and more about Jesus becomes known and understood – both in Heaven as angels watch and on Earth as humans learn.

 

Profound:

 

The breaking of the seven seals produces “The revelation of Jesus Christ.”

 

A “new aspect of Jesus” is revealed when each seal is broken.

 

After Jesus was found worthy to receive the Book of Life in 1798, Jesus immediately broke the first seal and the Holy Spirit went out from Heaven’s temple carrying a bow and a stephanos. He was bent on conquest and this conquest and this conquest continues at the present time.

 

A few words about religion on Earth in 1798….

 

When it comes to the topic of salvation, Christianity had been “locked up” in a dungeon of great darkness. For 1,260 years, the Roman Catholic Church had threatened and controlled kings, prices and paupers with the doctrine that salvation came through the sacraments of the church. This doctrine teaches that the church, the pope specifically, the authority to determine the salvation or condemnation of human beings. [The Catholic Church reaches this self-serving conclusion by distorting the words of Jesus in Matthew 16:19]

 

In other words, the church took the place of Jesus. [This is blasphemy.]

 

The church became man’s Savior and the people did whatever they could to keep the pope and the priests happy. Eventually, protestors arose. On the basis of Scripture, they disagreed with some of the teachings of the church and conflict began. The Protestant reformation began with a conflict over the topic of salvation.

 

By 1793, the conflict reached a boiling point and erupted into open warfare in France. Secular forces joined the Protestant movement and eventually, the authority of the papacy over Europe was terminated in 1798.

 

While the French Revolution was taking place on Earth, Jesus received the Book of Life in Heaven and as the dust settled on Earth; He immediately initiated a campaign on Earth to overcome the arrogance and ignorance of this world.

 

The Holy Spirit did this through a small number of Protestants who had set free from the Catholic doctrine. Now that persecution for disagreeing with the Catholic clergy was over, the gospel of Jesus could be preached throughout the Earth with a great deal of freedom.

 

For 1,260 years the Catholic Church did its best to keep the Word of God out of sight and away from people. The Church exalted its traditions; Protestors exalted the Bible that was a forbidden book. But, a change was in the making. Because the printing press had been around since 1455, and after religious freedom was won in 1798, Bibles suddenly became readily available and many people began to understand that salvation came through faith in Jesus.

 

 Against all odds, two things enabled Protestantism to develop prior to 1798. First, the discovery of the doctrine that salvation comes through faith alone in Jesus Christ made the traditions of the church worthless. Second, the luxuriant excesses of the priests, their heavy handed demands for money and a callous indifference for the spiritual and physical needs of the laity produced growing contempt for the clergy of the church. When the time came to remove the Catholic Church from power in 1798, Protestants were primed and ready to go preach the Word of God throughout the world. With God, timing is everything!

 

page l 1 l 2 l 3 l 4 l 5 l 6 l

-2-

[TOP]