The apocalypse of Jesus Christ allows your mind to be conquered by the Holy Spirit producing the most significant moments of your life.
The most significant event in the history of the world began when “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). Those words were penned by one who intimately experienced the event. John, the son of Zebedee, an Israelite, became one of the earliest followers of the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He came to believe that Jesus was the Expression of God in human form. John was chosen by Jesus, empowered by Jesus, and walked with Jesus throughout the earthy ministry of the Expression of God. John, along with two others, witnessed the transfiguration of the human Jesus where “his face did shine as the sun.” His raiment was also, “white as the light” (Matt. 17:2). They also heard a voice coming out of an overshadowing cloud, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Matt. 17:5).
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Challenged the Belief of the Early Followers of Jesus.
Perhaps, the most challenging thing said by Jesus was when he spoke of the apocalypse to come. It would be the apocalypse of Jesus Christ that would occurred in the first seventy years of the common era. As in all apocalyptic events, Jesus would speak of the ending of the old corrupted religious order. He would also speak of the beginning of the new spiritual kingdom of God on earth. The apocalypse of Jesus Christ would be as the ending of the night to bring forth the day. The apocalypse of Jesus Christ would be as the ending of winter to bring forth the summer. The apocalypse of Jesus Christ would be as the ending of the planted seed to bring forth the harvest. This ending of the old and the beginning of the new in the apocalypse of Jesus Christ would be the greatest apocalyptic event in the history of the world.
While leaving the Temple in Jerusalem with his disciples, Jesus addressed the infamous climactic ending of the old way of Judaism. He said, “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” He had just shared with his disciples, and with the people of Israel, the dismal conditions of Judaism. He began this long discourse with “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” After giving seven more “woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees,” he concluded his condemnation. He cried, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings. And ye would not!” His final words to them were, “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.” The prophesy of Jesus would be fulfilled, when after years of spiritual decline, the climatic end would come. The destruction of Jerusalem with its Temple and its nation of Old Testament Judaism would occur in 70 AD.
The disciples heard “See ye not all these things . . . there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Confused, they asked Jesus, “Tell us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” With word world, literally meaning “age,” they wanted to know when the sign of his coming, the new age, would come. They also wanted to know when the ending of the old age would occur.
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Would Not Only Have an Ending of the Old Age But Also Have the Beginning of a New Age.
Jesus had already told them of the ending of the old age. He had announced the coming judgment on the religious leaders and predicted the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. He would also reveal the beginning of the new age. It would be “the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” In other words, it would be the return of Jesus in the power of the Holy Ghost to his disciples. Baptized with the Holy Ghost, the most significant moment in their lives, his disciples would begin the new age. All made possible by the birth, the life, the death, the resurrection, the ascension, and the return of the exalted risen Christ into their lives.
Jesus closed his discourse on the ending of the old age and the beginning of the new age with a parable. He told his disciples, “Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh. So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” The time of the greatest event in the history of the world, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, would be revealed by Jesus, He said, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things [the beginning of the new and the ending of the old] be fulfilled.”
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Would Occur in the Generation Between 30 AD and 70 AD.
Little did most of that generation realize that the greatest event in history, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ, was unfolding before their eyes. The early followers of Jesus saw the High Priest, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the Sanhedrin Council, deny that Jesus was the Messiah. They would hear the Jewish leaders demand of Pilate, the governor, to crucify Jesus. Peter would say on the day of Pentecost, Jesus was crucified and slain by their “wicked hands.” He, however, was quick to point out that “God [had] raised him from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.” He would later proclaim, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
After Jesus was raised from the dead, he appeared three different times to his followers. Paul, the greatest spokesperson for this historical moment other than Jesus himself, wrote, “that [Jesus] rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once . . . [and] he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me.” Paul would go on to say, “now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits . . . For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”
The greatest event in history was reaching the final moments of its destiny. When Jesus had finished speaking to his disciples after his resurrection, “while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.” As they continued to look into heaven until Jesus could be seen no more, they heard “two men [which] stood by them in white apparel . . . [saying] . . . Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?” The two messengers from God declared, “this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.”
According to Peter on the day of Pentecost, the heavenly Father, who by his “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” had delivered Jesus to the cross and then raised him from the dead, would by the same “determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God” cause the risen Jesus to ascend into the heavenly realm to be “by the right hand of God exalted.” This same Jesus who ascended into heaven, being taken up by the heavenly Father, would be sent back from heaven in like manner by the heavenly Father. The heavenly Father would send Jesus back to his disciples in the power of the Holy Ghost. Being baptized with the Holy Ghost, the believers now having the risen Christ dwelling within them would receive “power . . . and . . . be witnesses unto [Jesus] both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”
The final moments of the greatest event in history was approaching. The beginning of the apocalyptic event to shape all of history had occurred: the Expression of God made flesh, the physical life of Jesus of Nazareth, the crucifixion and death of Jesus, the resurrection of the physical body of Jesus, the ascension of Jesus, the return of the risen Christ in the power of the Holy Ghost, and the consequential Expression of God now being manifested in believers. All that remained in the greatest event in the history of the world was the final destruction of the old religious order. In the mystery of the ending of the night only occurring in the breaking forth of the light of the day, the remaining husk (Jerusalem with its Temple and its nation of Judaism) of the old-world order would finally fall away from the life of the new (the spiritual kingdom of God) now springing forth in all its power and its glory.
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Expressed in Its Spirituality Beyond the Physical Event Is Recorded by John in His Book of Revelation.
The gospels and the history of the early followers of Jesus as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles would tell the story of the many physical events in the apocalypse of Jesus Christ. However, it would take the many visions of John, perhaps the most intimate disciple of Jesus, to reveal what was happening behind the physical event of the greatest and most significant moment in the history of the world. The visions of John (the twelve thousands taken from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, the great red dragon, a woman clothed with the sun, a slaughtered lamb standing, the mysterious 666 with its mark of the beast, and new Jerusalem descending out of the clouds of heaven, to name just a few), are revealed in fabulous word-pictures of rich, powerfully laden allegories and metaphors because they are spiritual in nature and cannot be seen with natural eyes.
With the spiritual significance of the greatest event in the history of man being recorded by John in his Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, the generation, between Jesus announcing the kingdom of God is at hand (30 AD) and the destruction of Jerusalem with its Temple and its nation of Judaism (70 AD), would experience what John revealed in his many visions of Revelation. In essence, the risen Christ coming within all believers through the baptism of the Holy Ghost would enable them to overcome the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet as revealed in Revelation. The adversary of the fleshly mind (the dragon), the control of political government (the beast), and the influence of faulty religion (the false prophet) could now be conquered because of the greatest event in history of the world had occurred, the apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Could Occur Because God Was at Work in the World through His Expression and through His Spirit.
Fundamentally, God was at work in the world bringing about the moment that would record the most significant event in history. According to “the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” the heavenly Father, through his Expression and by his Spirit, produced the apocalypse of Jesus Christ in the world. For example, Matthew recorded the beginning, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.” In Luke’s account of the gospel, when Mary was told that she would bring forth a child, she replied, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” The angel told her that “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
In addition, “there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, the same man was just and devout.” He, like many in Israel, was waiting for “the consolation,” the comfort, to come to Israel. Luke recorded that “the Holy Ghost was upon him . . . and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” Being let by “the Spirit into the temple,” he was there “ when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law.” Simeon “took [the baby] up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation . . . A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
The Holy Ghost was also at work in the birth of John who was destined to prepare the way for the ministry of Jesus. After Mary had received the message of the angel concerning her birth, she departed to visit her cousin Elisabeth. Elisabeth, who had previously not been able to have children, was now miraculously with child for six months. Luke recorded, “And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.”
It was also said of her child, John, “he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.” The husband of Elisabeth, Zacharias, was also “filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, 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.”
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Would Occur When the Holy Ghost Began to Work on and within People.
The Holy Ghost was also at work in the life of Jesus. Just before he began his ministry, he would be baptized of John in water. Matthew recorded, “when [Jesus] was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him.” Then, came “a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” After his baptism, it was recorded “Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil.” From these temptations, Luke wrote that Jesus returned from the wilderness “in the power of the Spirit into Galilee.” Peter would later say, “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Finally, Luke would record in his history of the Acts of the Apostles that Jesus, after his resurrection, “through the Holy Ghost [gave] commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.”
The final moments of the arrival of the new day would be experienced. Luke would begin his record of the concluding event in the coming of the new age by recording that Jesus “through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.” He would continue his emphasis on the Holy Ghost with Peter’s statement to the 120 Galileans, “Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas.” After stressing that it was the Holy Ghost speaking through Jesus and David, he would record the moment, the most significant event in the history of any man,
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Peter would later explain that this moment was not just for the 120 Galileans but for all who would, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Would Be Evident When Believers Began to Speak “as the Spirit Gave Them Utterance.”
Just as the original 120 Galileans spoke “as the Spirit gave them utterance,” there would be literally thousands upon thousands, even millions of believers in Christ, down through the age of the Holy Ghost that would speak “as the Spirit gave the utterance.” The new age of the risen Christ now dwelling within believers through the power of the Holy Ghost in the kingdom of God would finalize the beginning of the apocalypse, the revelation, of Jesus Christ. In other words, believers with the risen Christ now dwelling within them through the Holy Ghost could and would speak “as the Spirit gave the utterance.”
Sometimes, as the need would arise in multilingual settings, the believer would speak in a known language by some of those in attendance but unknown to the believer who was speaking as the Spirit gave the utterance. Many times, again as the need would arise, the believer could and would speak as the Spirit gave the utterance words that were not currently being formed from the thinking process of the believer. The believer would speak words that he was hearing for the first time as those in attendance who were also hearing and understanding. In other words, the Holy Ghost was speaking through the mouth of the believer.
For example, when Jesus first sent his disciple to preach “to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,” he warned them that they would “be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles.” Jesus then told them, “when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.”
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Would Be Experienced as Prophets Would Not Speak from the Ingenuity of the Mind but “As the Spirit Gave the Utterance.”
There are many instances in this new age, as recorded in the history of the Acts of the Apostles, where the Holy Ghost spoke through the mouth of believers. In Antioch, while Barnabas and Saul was meeting with them, there “came prophets from Jerusalem unto Antioch.” Unfortunately, with the word prophets being transliterated and not translated, it is often left to the reader to attempt to discern what it means. To help ascertain its meaning, the original word, prophētēs, comes from two words, meaning “fore, that is, in front of, prior to,” and “to show or make known one’s thoughts, that is, to speak or say.” For example, in the 120 Galileans speaking in a language they did not know, before they spoke “the spirit gave them the utterance.”
In Antioch, “there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the spirit that there should be great dearth throughout all the world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar.” Agabus spoke that which he did not know from the ingenuity of his own mind, but spoke as the Spirit gave the utterance, “signified by the spirit,” of the great scarcity of food to come.
Again, in the church of Antioch, Luke recorded there were several believers through whom the Holy Ghost had spoken. In particular, while “they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.”
After the church met in Jerusalem to discuss the great number of Gentiles joining with the Jewish believers, their conclusion was read to the church in Antioch bringing great rejoicing “for the consolation.” Two of the believers, Judas and Silas, speaking as the Spirit gave them utterance, “exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed [what they had heard from Jerusalem].”
Finally, in perhaps the most lengthy example of the Holy Ghost speaking through the mouths of the believers, Luke recorded that Paul and his company “came unto Caesarea: and . . . entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him.” Luke added that “the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.” While Paul and his company was in the house of Philip, there came from Judaea to the house of Philip one through whom the Holy Ghost had spoken many times. The man, Agabus, immediately upon entering the home, “took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.”
In this new age of experiencing the kingdom of God on earth, the speaking of the Holy Ghost through the mouth of believers was so important that Paul stated that the church, those who assembled themselves together with others of the kingdom of God, would be “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” With the risen Christ now living in every believer, he would not only send forth those who would share the kingdom of God with others (apostles) but he would also speak his words, through the mouth of the believers, as the Holy Ghost would give the utterance (prophets).
The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ Insures that All Believers Can Experience the Abundantly Life Even in a World that is Dying.
Is it any wonder then why “the gates of hell shall not prevail against [the church]?” You can go forward in experiencing life, knowing that not only you are being sent by God but that he also will speak through you, “as the Spirit gives the utterance,” the words that are needed to bring salvation to needy souls. You are living in the new age of the kingdom of God on earth. Being a believer, you have experienced the most significant moment of your life, the greatest event in your history, the risen Christ has come into your life through the power of the Holy Ghost. Acting and reacting, “as the Spirit gives the utterance,” you can experience the life that you were meant to experience, abundant life, through the apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
