The Bridegroom

The Book of Revelation is the greatest revelation of who Jesus is in the Bible. Chapter 1 has 30 descriptions of Jesus in just a few paragraphs. This is the setup to understand the rest of the book. The entire book portrays Jesus primarily as Bridegroom, King, and Judge.


He is a bridegroom: Revelation is MOSTLY the story of a wedding. It is the context Jesus gives His Bride to "get ready." Tribulation is a GOOD thing for believers, because God is the one allowing it...authorizing it...to happen. The great tribulation is a "great thing" for the Bride.


Many times in life God allows the struggle in order to lead His people to victory (look at the story of Deborah and Barak in the Book of Judges). God allowed Job to be afflicted so that God could reveal himself to Job. Any good parent allows some struggle to come into the lives of their kids to allow them to grow. A parent sees more and has a longer life view. God is way more interested in me living well for trillions and trillions of years than he is about me enjoying every second of being an infant for the first 80 years. Some things you just have to work through in a process. This is the truth of the Bible:


Romans 5:3-4 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.


A lack of faith (and some historically terrible teaching) makes believers afraid of Jesus' perfectly-authored tribulation. That is like a believer being terrified of hell...Hell is real, people are really going there...but not those who belong to Jesus! Same thing with the tribulation. The tribulation isn't some random trouble that is prophesied to engulf the world! No! Tribulation is the BRILLIANT plan of Jesus to use the least intense means necessary to reach the greatest number of people at the deepest heart level, without ever violating free will. Period. Jesus desires none be lost, but he won't force "anyone into that relationship with Himself, so he will "hem the whole world in" to get them to choose. This is the "valley of decision" Joel prophesied:


Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.


This is the choice: trust invisible Jesus, or trust in the man-based plan to solve the intense problems that man himself has created! Out of that experience, he will get a pure and spotless Bride...she will make herself ready in the time of trouble! The Bride will be releasing signs and wonders, telling the truth in the face of persecution, praying day and night for her cities and the unsaved. The cities of the Bride will be places of safety where many will run to as they come into agreement with Jesus. In order for this to happen, she needs to know Jesus plan and agree with it...she needs to see the wave of trouble coming and build the cities of safety and the night and day prayer. It is this PROCESS that makes the Bride ready.


This is the END of the tribulation:


Revelation 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”


At the beginning of the Book of Revelation (chapters 2 and 3) we see seven slightly out-of-agreement churches that need adjustment and unity...this is the world we live in RIGHT NOW! Once the trouble starts (chapter 6), the Bride progressively gets pure, spotless, and UNITED...seven Churches become ONE Bride...this is the point of the book. You don't need to fear the process when you are the Bride of the king who authored the process....you just need to agree with it and "get ready."


Matthew 24:44 Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.


There is so much to do right now to get into agreement with the process Jesus has chosen. He has literally already started releasing it. Many are going to quit...fall away...because they have no root. They are rooted in the comforts of a fading world system. If you want to flourish in the coming years, you need to draw together with other wholehearted believers and learn to feed your heart on the superior pleasures of hearing and responding to God.


Luke 8:13 But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away.


"Falling away" means to quit being a believer. Many will fall away because they will not be ready for how intense the storm is. They haven't cared about getting their inner man, their family, their church, or their city ready for this once-in-creation transitional generation. They haven't taught themselves, or those around them, to find satisfaction in the superior pleasures of working hand in hand with God, the author and creator of everything. They prefer God be an add-on to the life THEY desire. But people naturally desire comfort. Comfort is the opposite of what God is calling the world into:


Luke 12:49-53 “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”


Going after comfort now does not prepare you for dealing with trouble. There is a very large wave of trouble coming. Picture a surfer out on the ocean. A surfer paddles to get in the right spot, and when the wave breaks, he rides it...has fun on it...takes pleasure in it...all the way to shore.


If a surfer is in the wrong spot, the wave will crush Him. Worse yet, if he is just standing in the surf zone, with his back to the wave, not paying attention, he could get really hurt or killed by the same wave he could have ridden into shore...position matters when a wave breaks!


That is why it really matters a.) That you are standing, b.) what you are standing on, and c.) where (how deeply) you are standing right now. It is a matter of getting crushed, or having the time of your life. This is a "once in creation" opportunity. There is only one generation of the pure and spotless Bride. She makes herself ready before the wedding...for real. Jesus doesn't wave His hand and make her ready! No, she makes herself ready through a process. God works in processes, and gives his sons and daughters space to agree with him. He wants us "about his business."


It is time to turn off all the distractions and learn to surf...but everyone gets what they want. You have to take the first step and step away from the legitimate distractions the rest of the world celebrates. Stop sinning, for sure, but there is more to it...stop living like it is normal when you are living in the most intense generation ever! Tear your heart and not your clothing.


Joel 2:11-13 The Lord is at the head of the column. He leads them (this is the enemy army...Jesus is the one allowing the enemy...authorizing him to act) with a shout. This is his mighty army, and they follow his orders. The day of the Lord is an awesome, terrible thing. Who can possibly survive?


Here is the answer to who can survive:


That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish.


Joel goes on to describe how it is time for everyone to put normal life on hold and get with the program! (Joel 2:12-28 is the prescription for what to do). The last generation is seriously the greatest generation. The great cloud of witnesses longs to see this generation. We have been given much:


Luke 12:48 But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.


Jesus has committed much into the hands of one generation. This is immense privilege, but that means time matters...position matters...here comes the wave! He is sending the wave for our pleasure...or our crushing...we pick:


Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.


If Jesus has "all authority"...who is giving authority to the antichrist????


Revelation 13:5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months.





Now is the time to find out the full glory of Jesus' amazing plans!