Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #9 of Revelation, chapter 22.  We are reading Revelation 22:6:

And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

I will stop reading there.  We were looking at the first part of verse 6 in our last studies, where it says, “And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true.”  That is a certainty.  There is no question about this statement because these sayings are found in the Bible and the Bible is the Book of Truth.

It goes on to say in Revelation 22:6:

… and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

Why does God identify Himself as “the Lord God of the holy prophets”?  It is because it was the holy prophets God used as His scribes to write the Bible.  For example, it says in Luke 1:68-71:

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us;

God spoke by the mouth of the holy prophets in this manner, as we read in 2Peter 1:20-21:

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

The prophecy of the Bible (all Scripture) came from God.  It is His Word and He moved these holy men to speak His Words.  They were directed by the Holy Spirit of God to write down the words that are recorded in the Bible.  The holy prophets are made holy by God the Holy Spirit and they were inspired to speak the things we are reading in the Bible. 

It says in Acts 3:20-25:

And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.

God used the prophets to declare His Word and He referred to us, the hearers, as “the children of the prophets.” How were you or I or any unsaved individual saved?  It was through the hearing of the Bible written by the holy prophets and, therefore, we have been begotten by the holy prophets and we are, in that sense, children of the prophets that were “born again” by the Word of God.  That is why God says in Revelation 1:22 that He is “the Lord God of the holy prophets.”  He is the Lord God of the Bible.

Again, it says in Revelation 22:6:

… and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

We have seen many times in the Book of Revelation that the word angels (angelos) means “messengers” and Christ is the Chief Messenger of the Covenant.  Here, it is referring to the seven angels, which represents the true believers and Christ, who is in the midst of them, is one of the seven because He is among His people.  It is Christ that God sent into the world to fulfill His will and to demonstrate the things He had done from the foundation of the world and now we are reading that God has sent Christ “to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.”  This verse reminds us of what it says in Amos 3:7:

Surely the Lord JEHOVAH will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Since we are children of the prophets, we are also prophets.  All of God’s people are prophets in the sense that we speak or declare the Word of God.  I know some critics (typically, enemies of the truth) roll their eyes when they hear God’s people aligning themselves with prophets: “Oh, you think you are a prophet.  You are like Jeremiah or Amos or Isaiah.  That is why you are saying October 7 is the likely end of the world, because you think you are a prophet.”  They hear what we are saying and they may even recognize, to some degree, that when you declare things from the Bible you are acting in the role of a prophet.  What is the proof of that?  How many times have you been called a ‘false prophet’?  I know I have been called a false prophet numerous times, so if they call us false prophets, is that not a recognition (in a negative way) of being a prophet?  They have no problem calling you a prophet as long as they can put the word “false” in front of it. 

And there are false prophets today and they are those that speak falsely on doctrinal matters concerning the things of the Bible.  It is the New Testament corporate church (the apostate and condemned churches of our day that have already come under judgment) that are full of false prophets.  They speak falsely when they speak of salvation.  They tell people lies about how to become saved – accepting Christ, being water baptized, partaking of the Lord’s Table – and they say or imply, “Here is how you get saved.  Our church can save you if you follow our instructions.”  It is completely false and that is just the “tip of the iceberg.”  Look at what the Bible says about women teaching and then look at the churches.  Look at the Bible’s qualifications for deacons and elders and then look at the practice of the churches.  Look at what the Bible says about marriage and divorce and then look at what the churches teach.  The churches are after the image of the beast and false prophet, Satan, and they are false prophets themselves in what they declare.  Their very existence in this day is a lie because God has ended the church age and commanded His people to come out.  Yet, these are the same churches that point their “bony finger” at God’s elect because they think, according to what they see with their eyes, that God’s elect got it wrong regarding May 21, 2011 and from the church’s perspective, “You are a false prophet!”

But God’s elect are the ones that spend extra time in the Bible and apply extra carefulness when they come to the Bible in regard to seeking the truth, being very careful to compare Scripture with Scripture and make sure their conclusions harmonize with the entire Bible.  And God’s people have the truth in all these areas of the Bible because God the Holy Spirit has led them and guided them into truth.  Yet the perspective of the world (including the churches) is to look on the outward appearance and things they can see and they have no regard for “unseen things.”  That is a problem because the Bible was given to us by the “invisible God” and it speaks of “unseen things” like the kingdom of heaven.  It talks about “faith,” which is “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  So the world has the opposite viewpoint from the Bible.  The Bible tells us to keep our eyes on things above and that would mean to focus on “unseen things,” while the world focuses only on what can be seen.  The churches are now in alignment with the world and they did not see anything on May 21.  The Bible speaks of a spiritual judgment and it means nothing to the natural minded individuals of the world or the churches and, therefore, they say, “You spoke falsely.  You are the false prophet.”

Of course, the Lord’s people are not bothered by these accusations.  It is expected and it actually gives evidence that these things are actually true.  If we were truly false prophets we would be embraced and welcomed by the world – the world loves its own.  It is only those that go against the way of the world that they hate.  And what is the way of the world?  Their ways are lies and deceit and false promises, but the way of God and His Word is the truth.  Here is what God says in Matthew 5:10-12:

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Do you know who was called a false prophet?   Jeremiah was called a false prophet by the church of his day and Jesus was considered a false prophet by the Jewish authorities when they said of Him, “That deceiver said,” and they were speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ who is Truth.

When we look back at Biblical history, we find that the true prophets spoke to the outward representation of God’s kingdom (Israel of old) and they were a minority in every generation.  In every case God moved His prophets to speak as He did Micaiah and there would be the truth of Micaiah’s words regarding judgment that people did not want to hear and, on the other hand, there would be hundreds of false prophets saying “smooth things” that were pleasing to the ears of the king of Israel and all his court.  They admonished Micaiah to speak as these others because they all spoke well of the king and his plans and, yet, Micaiah had to speak the true Word of God that people naturally did not want to hear.  It does not “tickle their ears,” so they lash out at the prophets of God and they accuse them, as they did Jeremiah: “Thou speakest falsely: JEHOVAH our God hath not sent thee.”  Yet, Jeremiah had simply declared what God had revealed to him and this is the nature of God’s people.

Understanding that a prophet is any believer that speaks the Word of God, we know that this was what Mr. Camping was led to do for a long time.  He spoke forth the Word of God, but when nothing apparently happened on May 21, 2011 (according to the eyes of the world), masses of people rose up and pointed their fingers at that faithful man and proclaiming, “False prophet!”  He was reviled like few men have been and he was spoken evil of and the churches, in particular, lambasted Mr. Camping and pronounced all kinds of terrible things against him.  Do you know what God has to say about this in the Bible?  These people that are saying these things are individuals that are not, as it says in the Book of Job, worthy to be set “with the dogs of my flock.”  These individuals are declaring these things from the apostate churches that have become false prophets themselves and, yet, they are accusing God’s elect.  Who is the “great accuser” that accuses the brethren?  It is Satan and his emissaries, the enemies of God. 

I am sure Mr. Camping knew that when he was reviled the Bible says, “Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”  In other words, the footsteps we are following were tread by the Lord Jesus Christ and all the faithful prophets of old who spoke forth the Word of God faithfully.  They have been persecuted for the Word’s sake and they have faced trials of cruel mocking, we read in Hebrews, chapter 11.  This is the pathway that leads to the kingdom of heaven.  It is a way that is full of affliction.  It is much in evidence today as God’s people continue to declare the things of the Bible. 

You know, if the Bible was not the Bible, no one would be troubled by any of this information.  If Buddhists talk about the end of the world, nobody cares.  If some other religion says that it is going to be the end, no one pays any attention.  Even in the area of so-called Christianity, if someone comes up with a date based on some dream or vision, nobody cares.  But when information comes forth from the Word of God, the Bible, and the methodology used to derive that information is the proper method of Bible study (just the Bible alone), then the charges and accusations begin to come.  Even though men’s hearts have grown cold, deep down in the conscience of every individual there is the knowledge that there is a God and the Bible is His Word and there is at least a vestige of fear regarding the Word of God.   Therefore, God’s people that carry the message of God have the expectation that God’s Word will be reviled and because we are the ones carrying that Word, we are “caught in the middle,” as God said to Samuel, “They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me.”  The target of the rejection is really the Word we are carrying and the message of the Bible that is really the object of the wrath of sinful men and not the individual believer that is carrying that message.