Messianic Viewpoint

Guest (Male): Shalom and welcome to Shalom Ariel as we go through the book of Revelation with Messianic leader, Jacques Isaac Gabizon. Once again, we're going to walk away from the ordinary and into the extraordinary, off the planet and into space. How many of us have heard of ISS? It's the International Space Station, somewhere up there in Earth's low orbit. It is a five-country multinational collaboration. Their goal is scientific research in astronomy, physics, and other fields. What's their long-term goal? Long duration missions to the Moon and planet Mars. But today, we're going to go way past this space station and enter into the holy ground that few men were ever given the eyes to see.

We are going out of Earth's orbit and into the seventh dimension. The door has been opened and heaven beckons us to see the things that are to come. Now, while the space station has given us some breathtaking cues of the universe, have we considered the awesome color of holiness present in heaven? White, like our righteous robes will be, the evidence of our faith and adoption. And we've all heard of the Holy See, the governing body in the Catholic Church. But have we ever seen the true see of holiness? That pure see of glass that emanates from the throne of grace, the throne before which the four living creatures cry out day and night, holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty.

So we asked the Lord that he would open up our eyes that we may see past the Moon and Mars and any earthly distraction. May we enter the throne room, oh Lord, to worship you. Be blessed as you listen into today's program with Messianic leader, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, on the book of Revelation. Shalom, shalom.

Jacques Isaac Gabizon: Shalom. Good morning, good afternoon to everyone and also to those who are following us. It's always a great blessing together and be able to open the scriptures and to see what the Lord has for us this morning. Don't you have the impression that our planet is being held in limbo? You know, the virus is still around and the number of people affected is growing day by day. You know, last week, the World Health Association said that there's one death of COVID every 17 seconds in Europe, and it continues to overwhelm the health systems around the world.

As for the election in the US, it's not finished. It is being contested and the country continues to grow more divided. So it needs our prayer and conflicts also around the world are going on and so many civilians, civilians are paying the price. The latest one is if you watch the news in Ethiopia, the UN says that there are now 200,000 Ethiopian refugees in Sudan along with Yemen, where they estimate some 100,000 people who have died the last two years. And we have Burkina Faso, a country in West Africa, where thousands are on the brink of starvation.

Kashmir is another hotspot where India and Pakistan are in disagreement over a piece of land. As for Afghanistan, they say that more people are being killed than any other current conflict in the world. Just yesterday, by the way, 23 rockets hit the Afghan capital. There are many others who are falling, but they just don't report it anymore, right? Don't you think the world needs to turn to God by now? You know, in the history of Israel, God did allow these calamities to go on and on for men to turn to him so he can heal them.

He said to Israel, why don't you turn to me after so many things he sent to them? However, we know that Yeshua prophesied that before the very end and even before the first of the first seals or the first seal that is that is broken, which then gives way to the seven trumpets and also to the seven bowls, which we will study. Even before all this will take place, hearts will be hardened. He said that nation will rise against nation and there will be famines, famines. Yeshua added there will be pestilence. Okay, we saw this with the COVID-19 being a good example of this.

He also spoke of different natural disturbances in various places. This is what we see on TV today. And clearly, this is the time for us believers in the scriptures to spread the good news about God and his love and speak about those things that are prophesied. If the Bible speaks so much about the second coming of Yeshua, and surely it is for us to know and to proclaim. You know, I want to tell you that going through all the 260 chapters of the entire New Testament, someone counted 380 18 reference to Yeshua's second coming. That averages out to one citation of his coming for every 30 verses.

You can't miss it. This statistic calls us to very seriously consider the imminence, the imminent coming of Yeshua. Furthermore, I want to tell you 23 of the 27 New Testament books refer to this great event. That leaves only four books which do not refer directly to the second coming. And the Hebrew scriptures is filled with the promise of his coming. Someone reported that there are some 1,845 references in the Old Testament alone and a total of 17 books that give it prominence. Again, you can't miss it. And is it not sad that today when we need to delve in the prophecies even more, they are just being ignored by the majority of the churches?

They are diminishing in terms of importance. You know, I looked into the latest Christian books, something I will occasionally do to see what subject are the most popular and where the tendency is. You know, there are some very good books out there about forgiveness, about making better decisions, about using God's power in our lives. Many recent books are devotional in nature. Yet, how is it that there is hardly any, if any, new books on prophecy about when this subject actually occupies at least a quarter of the scriptures? While we are focusing on how to pamper ourselves, the world is going down and fast.

There was a time in history and prophecy should be the best-selling topic. It should be now. But this attitude fulfills another prophecy because we know we know already in second Peter 3:4, it declares that in the end many will come and ask, well, where is the promise of his coming, right? And they will go on and on. We see this prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes. This is why I'm very excited to be studying this great and powerful book of Revelation which do not only speaks of wars to come, but also brings us great comfort, comfort, security, and well-being as it prepares us to and confirms for us what is ahead for the believer.

Now, before we begin to this study of things which must soon take place as it is written down, I have one good news, one good news. Hebrew classes will resume very soon over Zoom, right? So Michael Gabizon, who is doing his PhD in Second Temple Judaism, will start from the beginning. So it will be a good review for those who took the first three clauses. It will be in about three weeks and I believe it will be on a Monday evening and you will receive an email. If you're not in our mailing list, just contact us.

It's free for everyone. Now, let us turn our attention to our children. Let us bless our children, our grandchildren, children, that they too will be moved to see the world, question it, and take steps to draw even closer to God. If you have your children, of course, get them closer to you. Put your hand upon their head. Blessed be his name, whose glorious kingdom is coming and is forever and ever. Heavenly Father, we we praise you for your love and faithfulness in all things. We thank you for your protection and care over our families. Thanks be to you for giving us the wisdom and the right knowledge as found in your book for raising our children.

While as parents, we may feel anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed, today we ask that you would make us all more like you, more aware of your constant presence in our lives. Help us to release our children to you so that you are free to fully accomplish all that you desire within their hearts. Fill them every day with your truth and cover them with your favor in all things. Amen and amen. So let's open our Bible to chapter four of Revelation. The title of this study is Journey to Heaven and Back. And I'm talking about us. For today, this is what we will do through and with that is with John.

It'll take about 45 minutes, so buckle up. In the past, many people have claimed to have gone to heaven and back, but their account of what they saw and experienced is so far from what John is telling us here in Revelation. Furthermore, by the mouth of two or three witnesses, the mother shall be established. John's testimony is in accordance with the other prophets who also went to heaven and came back. Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel are among those whose accounts we will see are so similar to those of John that one may even suspect that they were there at the same time if one can speak of time when it deals with heaven.

For instance, when Daniel saw the throne of God, he was surprised to see that some other empty thrones were actually being set up in front of God's throne. How can we have more than one throne of God? In Revelation 4, we will see that these thrones are filled up with 24 individuals called the elders. Who are there? We will find out very soon. Isaiah saw the same event. Both he and John heard and saw the same number of wings of angels, six wings of them for each one. And we will see why they need so many because you really only need two to fly.

Ezekiel reports seeing the color of amber, amber, in Hebrew, right? Which is like a bronze or brown color emanating from the throne. The tone of this color must have been from two colors of red and green. Do you remember which are the two hues John saw coming out of the throne when he saw the throne itself? Ezekiel also marveled of what he called the likeness of the firmament shining like glass. And here in chapter four of Revelation, John will describe it for us as being a sea of glass. Wonderful image of where the throne of God is.

All these things will give the believers such an excitement about this great place that is awaiting for us. And we might be there tonight. You know that. And reading the details of these things is to witness scenes from another dimensions. The world as we know it has three dimensions of space, you know, length, width, and depth, and another dimension of time. But when you read about heaven, these parameters kind of change. Words like around, beneath, above, in front, and the like do not always have the same meaning. Our challenge is to try to understand at least with as little as we can what these new ways of defining space and time might mean.

For instance, we read in Revelation 4:6 that in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. How can you be in the middle and around it defies our imagination? The Greek literally says that the living creatures were in the middle and around at the same time. And in Revelation 4:8, we read that they were full of eyes around and within. How can we conceive eyes being around and within? We will learn about the 24 elders, but in Revelation 4, they are seen around the throne. However, in Revelation 11, they're seen before the throne.

How can you be before and around? It doesn't matter really. Even time does not seem to have the same value up there. In one of the greatest scene, and we're going to see this next week, by the way, in chapter five, John is asked to see the lion of Judah. He turns around and who does he see? A lamb as if it was just slain. However, when John saw these things, he did not complain or say anything about the strangeness, strangeness that is of the heavenly realm. On the contrary, he seems so much at peace even at home up there.

Surely, when we get there, we will be at home, I believe, right there. For now, when considering these wonderful strange things, we need to bridle our imagination. For I believe that most of these things are not given for us to see, but to understand. Let's appreciate how already such a great grace is given to us that we may witness or at least walk alongside John as he confirms for us that there is this wonderful world out there waiting for us. And again, heaven is a real place, not an idea, but it's a city. It has roads and one main building where the Lord is.

Now, last week, we covered the first three verses of Revelation 4 when John saw an open door in heaven and was caught up. And the first thing he saw gave him a sense of great comfort and well-being. The color that emanated from the Lord who was sitting on his throne was the color white. White, the color of holiness with a red hue emanating, reminding us of our full redemption in Yeshua. And around him was what? A great, beautiful rainbow, so soothing, you know, with green color as a main hue. This was for John a welcoming feast of colors.

But this scene must also be appreciated in relation to that one group that is there as well. Apart from the angel, okay, that we see there, we discover another group as we read in verse four. See what it says. And around the throne were 24 thrones. And upon the throne, I saw 24 elders sitting clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. How could they be sitting on thrones besides God? And what have these done to be dressed in white, in white garments and having crowns, golden crowns, and white 24 of them? By the way, we don't have to guess.

The Bible itself gives us the answer. We just have to dig in a little bit everywhere. To begin, we already have a plan of heaven or at least of the place where John is right now and describing for us. When Moses was given the plan of the tabernacle and David was given the same plan to build the temple, this plan was according to the temple here in heaven, the very place we are seeing right now in John. We will see in verse six, for instance, the beautiful sea of glass which corresponds to the molten laver outside the holy place.

This item represents the holiness of God we're going to see. Then when you go inside the holy place, there are the menorah which symbolize the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God in verse five. Who is the Holy Spirit in his perfect form? We will also read later on of an altar in Revelation eight and a golden sensor. This corresponds to the altar of incense. And of course, we see the throne of God with angels around which corresponds to the ark of the covenant in the Holy of Holies and to the reproduction of those many angels woven directly into curtains around Solomon's Temple.

And those, of course, to the world bowing down to God. But what about the elders and why have we the number 24? This I want to tell you is a familiar number in the Hebrew scriptures. The priesthood of Israel was divided in 24 courses because there were thousands of priests, not all of them could work at the same time, of course, in the temple of God. So according to First Chronicles 24 and in chapter 25, the priestly population was divided in 24 classes. David did that. This division represents the whole priesthood. With this plan, each Levite would take turns for a period of about two weeks in carrying the daily temple rituals and functions.

And we remember that the father of John the Baptist, Zachariah, was from the course of Abijah in Luke 1:5. This is the name of one of the 24 courses found in First Chronicles. Abijah was one of the 24 courses set up by David, who inspired himself from the plan that God gave him of the plan of something we're seeing today. In the same way, these 24 elders represents the united royal priesthood. And they say as they see in Revelation 5:10, you have made them to be a kingdom of priests to our God and they will reign upon the Earth.

Perhaps we believers will take turns as well sitting around this throne as eternity goes on. These elders offer prayers. We're going to see. They offer praises all the time. And while there are battles and wars described in this book, Revelation is also filled with hymns and praises. You know that there are at least 16 songs in this book and there's so much joy in heaven. But this is not all. Believers in Yeshua are much higher than just priests. See now the second item that is mentioned. They're sitting on thrones. Again, how can they be sitting on thrones?

But this is what Yeshua promised to the overcomers, to believers in Revelation 3:21. He said to him who overcomes, I will grant him to sit on my throne. And how is it that they are sitting on thrones and not on simple comfortable chairs? This is in answer to another wonderful promise we are given in Romans 8:17 speaking to the believers. It says if children, that is if believers, if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If Jesus is king, then we are co-heir with him. This is I want to tell you an extraordinary promise that we see being fulfilled in heaven.

Now we can better understand what Paul says in the next verse of Romans 8:18 that the sufferings and the press of the present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us. And I want to tell you he knows what he's talking about because he went there too. He went to heaven and he came back. The Lord the Lord let him to see it, to prepare perhaps, to prepare him for the difficult ministry which he had. So far we can see how wonderfully the scripture describe our eternal future.

I want to ask you, would you exchange all the riches of the world for what the Lord has prepared so far? It's not worth it. I am telling you. They don't compare at all. This is by the way, not the only thing. There's much more to come. Now, what's amazing before we get there and we mentioned this at the beginning is that in the Hebrew scriptures, Daniel also saw these thrones, but when he did, they were empty for they were in the process of being set up. This will give us a hint of the chronology of Revelation.

See what Daniel says in 7:9. And I watch he said till thrones were put in place and the ancient of days was seated. His garment was white as snow and the hair of his head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame. Its wheels are burning fire. You know, he saw the ancient of days that is the Lord in his throne also with the prominent color white. That is the color of holiness. And this passage of Daniel describes the time before the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Messiah was preparing for his second coming.

And just before this time, just before the first seal which opens up the tribulation is broken, these thrones were filled with believers who are just rapture up. This is one of the many hints in Revelation which shows that believers will be raptured before the seven-year tribulation. This will become even clearer when we deal with the seals in chapter six. Now, Daniel's observation represented difficult passage to interpret for a biblical Judaism. The question they ask is that if there's only one God, how come there's more than one throne? In the Talmud, one deals with the dilemma.

It says there's no contradiction. One throne for him and one throne for David. But the throne of David is not in heaven. It is on Earth. And so another said, rather there's one throne for justice and one for mercy. But we this is completely new. But the reason why there are thrones in heaven besides God's throne is given to us in Revelation 4:5. They are for us who are represented by the 24 elders. This is great news, by the way. And the third thing we notice is that these 24 elders are dressed in white robes.

But this also is according to Yeshua's promise in Revelation 3:5, he who overcomes will thus be clothed with white garments. Here they are in white robes. Jesus is good, by the way, for his promise. You know that. The fourth item we see are the crowns. These are Stephanos, crowns of glory, of victory. These are the type of crowns they used to give to the winners at public games. Here they are honorary crowns for those who work hard, for those who overcome for all believers. And they are not just any crowns. These are made of gold, gold, gold from heaven which is everlasting.

This also is according to Yeshua's promise in Revelation 3:18 when he says, I advise you to allow this he says, I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich and white garments so that you may clothe yourself. Here the believers took his advice. They see golden crowns and white garments as well. Now we can understand that if the believers are by this time wearing crowns, it is because the events of the bema seat of the Messiah where all believers will be judged and rewarded according to these things right had already happened.

Not judged for sin, by the way, because every time I speak of the bema seat, people can't say what, are we going to be judged again? Yes, we are, but not for our sins, but for our action. Whatever we have done. It says in Second Corinthians 5:10 and we need to know that, not to be surprised. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of the Messiah that each one may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. We're all saved, but God is not unjust to forget how some, and we see them, how some have worked so hard for the gospel and he rewards them with these crowns made with heavenly gold.

While there are different types of crowns for different works done done here, all believers will be in heaven, all of them. But one thing is true. When we consider these crowns and these judgment to come is that our eternal future is being prepared right now, not after, not after. Let me tell you a story. You must have heard it, but I didn't want to miss that opportunity to tell you again. There's this story about a pastor who died and went to heaven. He recognized the cab driver who he knew and who had been given much more and a higher place and more beautiful crown than he had.

So embarrassed, you know, he took an angel on the side and asked, I don't understand. I devoted my entire life to my congregation. Why am I so far back? So the angel answered, our policy is to reward results. Now what happened is that whenever you gave a sermon, people fell asleep. But when people rode in this man's taxi, they not only stayed awake, but they prayed. This of course is exaggerated, but what is not exaggerated is that I think we'll be surprised to see that even one of the smallest action will have an eternal weight of glory.

And so even if the Lord is coming back soon, maybe tonight, it is not too late to produce these fruits so that we can give glory to God. We're going to see that the believers are going to cast their crowns to God. Okay, we have something to give or we need something to give. It's now that we prepare them.

Guest (Male): Shalom Ariel is a daily radio program emphasizing the Jewish perspective of scripture. God is not through dealing with Israel, nor will he renege any of the promises he has made to her. Our teacher for this program, Jacques Isaac Gabizon, is a Messianic Jewish believer and Messianic leader at Beth Ariel congregation right here in Montreal. If you've been encouraged by the messages, we'd love to hear from you. Give us a call at 1-888-685-5902 or you may write us at info at Beth Ariel, b e t h a r i e l all one word, .ca. You are also welcome to join us for our Saturday morning services.

We are located at 6297 Monkland Boulevard, corner of Madison in NDG. The message is given in English, but we do offer simultaneous translation into French and Russian. Services begin at 11:00 a.m. We have Shabbat school for children of all ages up to and including teens. You may also download audio messages from our website at bethariel.ca and enjoy other in-depth teaching from Jacques Isaac. If you would like to sign up for informative newsletters, log on to our website and add your name to our email list. Shalom Ariel is a listener-supported program. If you have it on your heart to donate, it will be a great blessing for the continuing ministry and outreach of Beth Ariel.

Thank you and shalom, shalom.

Guest (Female): You will have compassion on us and forgive all our iniquity. You will cast all of our sin into the depths of the sea. You will have compassion on us and forgive all our iniquity. You will cast all of our sin into the sea. Your love is unchanging to Abraham. Your covenant forever shall stand. Your truth shall reign sovereign in Israel. Messiah, come back to your land. Messiah, come back to your land.