Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #19 of Revelation, chapter 10, and we are going to read Revelation 10:11:
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
We have been looking at the Apostle John who was given the “little book” and commanded to eat it up. He obediently did so and it was in his mouth as sweet as honey, which confirmed to us that the “little book having been open” was the Bible at the time of the end, which God opened up at the beginning of the Great Tribulation. And it continues to remain open into this Day of Judgment and the information the Bible is bringing forth is “sweet” to the believer’s taste, as all the truths of the Bible are, but it is also “bitter” in our belly because God has ended His salvation program and the information coming forth from the Word of God is like “bitter” water.
John 7:37-38 informed us that the Holy Spirit is within the true believer and out of his belly flows rivers of living water, coming forth from the Spirit of God through the believers in the day of salvation, but now, in the Day of Judgment, it is “bitter.” Our belly has turned “bitter,” due to the fact that God has shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program.
The mighty angel, who is Christ, is speaking to the Apostle John, who is a true believer and He said in Revelation 10:11:
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.
We are going to look at the words “prophesy” and prophecy. We will look at several verses where God speaks of this, but, first, let us not miss the word “must,” where it says: “Thou must prophesy again.” It lets us know, without any doubt, that God is commanding us to do so. He is not asking us – He is not making a request. He is not saying, “If you feel like it, you can prophesy. I know you did prophesy and carry forth the Gospel message to all the world. You did as I commanded in the days leading up to May 21, 2011. Now we are living in a different time and there are no more lost sheep. Now my command to you is to feed my sheep by bringing the truths from the Bible to all those that have been saved that are out there among “many peoples, and nations, tongues and kings” of the world. You do not know who they are, so you must, once again, bring the message from the Bible to all people.” God is not trying to reason with us or console us or soothe over our hurt feelings, if we experienced reviling and persecution and affliction due to maintaining the testimony that Judgment Day would be May 21, 2011.
You know, some people had their feelings hurt; they had “joined up” to get that message out to the world and they let it be known that they thought God would bring Judgment Day on May 21, 2011. Then when it did not happen like they expected and, suddenly, the world was mocking and the churches were celebrating and their family, friends and neighbors asked them, “What happened?” Well, a deep sense of shame came upon them and they were embarrassed. They felt ridiculed and they had their feelings hurt. Some of them could not abide that, so they distanced themselves from the teaching of May 21 and they realized that (seemingly) the power and the strength was on the side of those that doubted and said, “No man knows the day or the hour.” Now they could be like the ones that point the finger and say, “See, I told you nothing would happen.” So some quickly changed sides and said, “Now I have learned my lesson. I am not going to trust in the Biblical calendar. I am not going to trust these things any longer. I did not see anything happen with my eyes.” And now they stand with those that were doing the reviling and then some of them have also begun to revile God’s people who continue to maintain that the Biblical calendar of history is correct and that May 21, 2011, was Judgment Day. Yes, they learned their lesson very well from the world and the churches, as these had mocked and ridiculed the message from the Bible concerning the approaching Day of Judgment. Now these same people that had been the objects of ridicule now begin to ridicule and, obviously, that is never the way of God. As soon as they involve themselves in it, it becomes apparent there is something deeply wrong. It is normal to have been confused or troubled and maybe to take a step back to examine the Scriptures, but when they join the side of the mockers, there is nothing “of God” in this kind of behavior at all.
We have to be careful. I do not think this would happen with a true believer, but there could be someone – maybe someone that became a little “gun shy.” He is someone who is maybe “sensitized” to the idea of going out with tracts or sharing a message that relates to “time and judgment,” because of the critical response that came as a result of having proclaimed May 21, 2011.
But, we all need to realize, first of all, that God is not asking us. He is God. He is the Creator and He is LORD and He is commanding us to prophesy again. It is not an option and it is not something we can choose to do when we feel like it. God is commanding us now, at this time: “Thou must prophesy again,” and He is giving us direction, just as He did in the Book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 50, when this same issue was raised by God, it says in Jeremiah 50:2:
Declare ye among the nations, and publish, and set up a standard; publish, and conceal not: say, Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.
Babylon has fallen and, historically, Babylon fell at the end of seventy years, which pointed to the Great Tribulation. Then Satan’s kingdom fell at the end of the Great Tribulation and May 21, 2011, was the exact 8,400th day of the Great Tribulation and the end of that period, and then judgment transitioned from the churches to the world. We are to “publish and conceal not.” We are not to hide this information. God gives us specific instructions to say, “Babylon is taken. Babylon is fallen and the Lord Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God are victorious.” This is what we are to prophesy and we must do this.
Let us look at this word “must.” We are going to look only at the Gospel of Luke. This word is used in other places in a similar way, but this just makes it easy for us to stay in one Gospel. It says in Luke 2:49:
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
This is the 12-year-old Jesus Christ who “must” be about His Father’s business. Of course, He came to do the will of the Father. It says in Luke 4:43:
And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent.
There is a necessity that this word “must” involves. It says in Luke 21:9:
But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.
It says in Luke 22:7:
Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the passover must be killed.
Here is a good example of the word “must.” God gave specific commandments concerning the passover. It must be killed on a certain day. If you slay the passover some other day, then you did not obey God. You did not do as the Bible tells you to do and that would be unfaithful. Therefore, in order to be faithful, you must do it on the day that God says it is to be done.
It says in Luke 24:7:
Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.
Was there an option for how this was to work out? No – everything had to happen according to the determinate counsel that God had foreordained from the foundation of the world. It must take place just as God says it will in the Scriptures, or else the Scripture would not be fulfilled.
Finally, it says Luke 24:44:
And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
The Messianic passages of the Old Testament foretold these things. For instance, Psalm 22 foretold the words that Christ would speak on the cross, and foretold of the holes in his hands and in his feet; all these things must be fulfilled and God did fulfill them in the coming of Christ into the world as He entered into the human race. Many other verses could be offered that would show the absolute “necessity” when God uses this word “must.” It is in no way considered an option when the Lord says, in Revelation 10:11: “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This is the will of God and it is the will of God that we partake of the Bible that has been opened at the time of the end. We are to devour it; we are to eat it up; and the only way to do that is to read, study, listen and learn from the Bible. It will turn our belly “bitter” and it will affect the rivers of living water, as that which flows forth from us because the things we are learning are “bitter” things. It turns the water “bitter” because there is no salvation for anyone that hears these things, but that is not the point and it is not why God is commanding us to prophesy again. It is not in order that people would hear and be saved, but it relates to John 21, which was after the great catch of fish, when Jesus said to Peter: “Peter, lovest thou me?” Peter responded, “Yea, Lord, thou knowest I love thee.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Then a second time and then a third time, Jesus said, “Peter, lovest thou me?” And, Peter said, “Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” This is the task. This is the mission that God has for us. We are not to think that we are doing the same thing as we have always done during the day of salvation.
We are not to have any sort of expectation that people might be “drawn” and become saved, but, rather, we are just to share that “Babylon is fallen.” We are to publish it and not conceal it or hide it. We are to state it boldly. Remember, God tells us to have boldness in the Day of Judgment. That statement is found in 1 John 4:17:
Herein is our love made perfect…
And why is “our love made perfect”? It is because there is one final performance of love. Remember, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And what is Christ’s commandment for those of us that are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment? It is to feed sheep. Be about the business of sharing the truths from the Word of God with those that are saved and, therefore, the Word must be sent forth widely so they might hear.
As it says in 1 John 4:17, “Herein is our love made perfect,” when this final task has been completed, then all those that are truly born again will have obeyed Christ and, finally, completed their obedience in keeping God’s commandment to the end, as they endure faithfully to the end of time.
Again, it says in 1 John 4:17:
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
This is where we are to have boldness in the Day of Judgment: in this world and at this time. We boldly say, “Yes, May 21, 2011, was Judgment Day.” We boldly say that God has saved everyone He intended to save and there are no more to be saved. It is bold because the world certainly does not want to hear it. The churches certainly do not want to hear it. Who does that leave? It only leaves the elect to receive this kind of a message, so there will be those that will intensify the reviling; they will increase the mocking. There will be all sorts of accusations and some will say, “These people are so stubborn and so prideful that they just will not let it go. They are afraid to admit they were wrong.”
Of course, it has nothing to do with that – nothing at all. It is far easier to admit you are wrong and give in to the pressure. Then the world will not oppose you and the churches will not oppose you. All of that pressure to conform to what they want you to do would go away. Yet, the child of God cannot do that, despite what the world thinks, and the world is our families and our neighbors. The world is all around us and certainly their thoughts and ideas about us impact us and we do not relish the idea of holding onto something they disdain, but the child of God must hold on. It is not out of pride. It is not out of stubbornness. It is because God would not have us do it any other way. We hear His voice and we respond to the voice of Christ and we cannot respond to the voice of strangers.
Again, our verse says: “Thou must prophesy again.” In our last study we looked at 2 Peter, chapter 1, verse 19, where it says: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy.” Then verse 20 said: “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.” Finally, verse 21 stated: “For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.” Three times in these verses God identifies prophecy with the Scriptures. The Bible is the prophecy of God. It says in Revelation 22:7:
Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
It goes on to say in Revelation 22:10:
And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
We are also very familiar with these verses in Revelation 22:18-19:
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
This is why when God says, “your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,” in Acts, chapter 2, because it has to do with sharing the Bible’s teachings and declaring what the Bible says, because the Bible is the “prophecy.” Prophecy is another name for the entire Bible, so when we share anything from the Bible, we are prophesying. God uses this figure, for instance, concerning the “two witnesses,” in Revelation 11:3:
And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.
The “two witnesses” are the witness of the Bible, which is the “prophecy,” during the church age. God’s people prophesied what the Bible said during that period of time, from 33 A.D. until 1988 A.D. For 1,955 years, they prophesied; the “1,260” days are a time reference to represent the actual time of 1,955 years of the church age. Referring again to the “two witnesses,” it says in Revelation 11:7:
And when they shall have finished their testimony…
This is to say, “When they have finished their prophecy.”
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
This period of prophecy ended with the end of the church age; the “two witnesses” are lying dead in the street. The power of the Word of God that had been empowered by the Spirit of God within the congregation was removed, and that left the Bible as a “lifeless” book in all the churches of the world. There was no more power of the Scriptures to save sinners within any churches for the duration of the Great Tribulation period. But after 2,300 evening mornings, which is spoke of as “three and a half days,” the “two witnesses,” or two prophets, stood upon their feet and, once again, the Gospel began to go forth into the world in September of 1994, as God evangelized the world through His Word, the prophecy, by using His people to send forth that prophecy outside of the churches and congregations. They operated out in the world and so, it could be said, they were prophesying again. They had prophesied throughout the church age and then they prophesied again during the short season of the latter rain which came during the last part of the Great Tribulation and God saved a great multitude through that prophecy.
The prophesying to the people of the world was carrying forth the “living water,” or the Word of life, as God saved many people from the nations and tribes and tongues. But, following that, their prophesying was completed on May 21, 2011, and Judgment Day came. Now, in Revelation 10, which is set in the context of Judgment Day, God is speaking to His people, saying: “Thou must prophesy again.” We tend to think that “again” has the idea of a second time, but it just means “more than once,” whether a second time or a third time. For instance, we find this Greek word “palin” translated as “again,” in Matthew 26:42:
He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
Here, God helps us. He shows us that the word “again” can refer to second time or to a third time. The word “again” just means “again” and it could be a fourth or a fifth time or however many times. So when the Lord commands, “Thou must prophesy again,” He is saying, “Yes, you prophesied during the church age, my people. Yes, you prophesied outside of the churches during the latter rain, my people. Now you must prophesy during this Day of Judgment.”