Hey everyone, welcome back.

This is week 50 of Creative.

Come follow me for the New Testament.

And this week we're going to be in our second of our three

weeks in the book of Revelation.

And this is a longer one.

We cover nine chapters this week, so we're going to go from

six all the way through 14.

By the end of this week's chapters, we're going to be talking about Basically,

the gathering of the wheat and the tares and that phase that occurs where

time is up and things need to change.

All of the chapters before 14 talk about how many times he

reaches after his children.

I gotta tell you, one of the things that was hard for me this week

in my study was, My heart wants to be in the Christmas story.

Maybe it's because of the First Presidency devotional.

Like, I found myself aching to set down the dragons and the fires and

the storms and just focus in on the beautiful miracle of the Christmas story.

What's interesting to me, you guys, is over the course of study, as I pushed

myself to try to understand the book of Revelation and understand what John

was trying to teach me, the more I came to appreciate the Christmas story.

Because I really think this is why he came the way he came.

In fact, this week you're going to see things, well, you'll

see these vivid contrasts.

You're going to see the adversary show up With pomp and fear and storms and

then you're gonna see the Savior as the lamb And I feel like that's what

the Christmas story teaches us as well in order to save us from all of this

Destruction that is coming the Savior comes as this quiet powerful lamb and

that's the message of these chapters it is a Well, I guess the verse that really

kind of came back to me as I was studying the most is what the Savior teaches about

When he's looking over his children, especially those who don't choose his

path He has this ache and he says things like how oft would I have gathered

you as a hen gathereth her chicks?

What John is teaching us this week you guys is why we need to find refuge under

those wings Because there are great storms coming and the Savior knows about

those storms and he offers us this refuge in his gospel And he invites all to

come under his wings But what I think is really powerful about that metaphor

is there's nothing to hold you there You have to choose every day to stay

in that refuge and if you choose it you have the protection that he promises

and if you wander out you're exposed to the storms and to the distractions

and the fear that's outside of it.

And I think that's what John's trying to help us understand.

I think he wants us to see the gift that the Savior offered as he gave

himself as a shelter and refuge for us.

And he's just urging us to come inside.

And I honestly think it's It will strengthen your testimony of the Christmas

story as you jump into these chapters.

I promise, it's worth your time.

So grab your scriptures, grab your notes.

It's time to get started.

Before you jump into six, it might help you get your bearings

at the very end of five.

Because remember last week, we left off on sort of a cliffhanger.

You know, the Savior had just willingly taken the book out of the

God the Father's right hand and the whole of heaven celebrated, right?

They rejoice in song because he's willing to open these seals.

He's the only one that's authorized to do it and he, he chooses to do it.

In chapter 6, you see those seals begin to be opened by the Savior.

In fact, that's what it says in verse 1, And I saw when the Lamb opened

one of the seals, and I heard it as it were the noise of thunder, one of

the four beasts saying, Come and see.

So this is John still in that visionary experience and he's seeing the Savior.

Open up those seals.

What I thought was so powerful about this you guys is what comes out So what's

interesting is over the course of these seals being opened Devastation comes out.

You learn later in the chapter that also prophets come out and

good comes out, but in these first nine Verses or so it's all bad.

These Horses come out.

So the horses have a rider on them.

They're all different colored horses and they represent Sort of the awfulness

of men on the earth that each of those seals represents a thousand years

and during those thousand years and beyond it Devastation sort of unfolds.

So at first you're gonna see a white horse that represents conquest this

is sort of the natural man taking over and dominating different landscapes

this idea of like conquering viciously other locations that rolls into the

second horse that is a red horse.

Yeah, this is the one that represents warfare because he's got a sword.

The writer has a sword and it represents the blood that comes from these battles

and these wars over, you know, power and authority and areas of control.

Then you see two other horses come out, the first of which is a horse that comes

out black, and this is, the rider has, you know, those, like, scales, like

the scales of justice, sort of, and on it he has food, and he's measuring

things, and it's this idea of famine that comes, almost like you always see

on the heels of Men who seek conquest and power, then you get war, and the next

thing in the line is famine that comes.

The land itself is decimated in these efforts to conquer and to control.

And then the fourth horse is this pale horse, which is this sickly

green kind of color, and it represents the pestilence that follows.

The disease and the damage to the land, and all of these are these repercussions

that come from mankind being.

Allowed to war.

And I guess what I found myself.

I found myself thinking over and over again How hard it must have been

for the Savior to open those seals.

It's he's someone who created this beautiful Planet he created

this world and all things that are in it and he knows when he opens

that seal Those horsemen come out.

I mean, not literally, but like, figuratively, war comes out, and bloodshed

comes out, and men who hate each other, and abuse each other, that, it must have

been so hard for him to open that seal.

I found myself thinking, Well, you know, I mean, in a very small way,

if you had that experience where your kids finally get their license and you

know, you've got to give them the keys.

But what's hard is, you know, as soon as you hand off those keys, if

it's not this month or a year from now, at some point in the future,

they're going to have an accident.

You just know it, right?

Like it's just bound to happen.

They'll hit a mailbox, they'll hit another car, they'll, something is

bound to go wrong and you almost don't want to give them the keys, but the

only way they can become a driver at all and learn what they need to learn

is for you to take that risk, right?

And I feel like that's kind of the Savior on this cosmic level.

He's, he knows how this all has to go.

And he's saying the only way for me to allow men to progress the way I want them

to, the way they're intended to, is to create a world where they have choices.

What I love is, in addition to all these hard, devastating things

that unfold, you also have this promise of guides and prophets.

So if you flip the page, in verse 9, it says, And when he had opened the fifth

seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,

and for the testimony which they held.

And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and

true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

This is a hard visual, right?

These are martyrs for the faith.

These are people who were killed in that onslaught of

warfare and greed and struggle.

But what's powerful to me is, that means there were prophets all that

time, when the Lord unleashed and allowed all that hard to come out.

He also gave profits.

It reminds me a lot about what we know about the Garden of Eden, that

when they were, you know, cast out and they had to go into this hard place

where they would experience hard.

He also blessed them with teachers and with tools and with understandings

to keep them connected to him.

They come packaged together, this idea of understanding things and growing in

the gospel, they always come together.

So I actually find hope in that visual of these martyrs coming close

together, having this fellowship, and pleading for the time to rush

so that the Savior can come again.

I find hope in that visual.

When you go a little further, you see The exchange that happens.

I just think this is a powerful reminder of what happens when

you give your life to God.

This mortal life.

Because all these martyrs offered themselves to the Lord and what they

get in exchange are these white robes.

So if you look at 11, and white robes were given unto every one of them and it

was unto them as they should rest for a little season until their fellow servants

also and their brethren that should be killed they were should be fulfilled.

This fifth seal represents the time of John himself, right?

So this is that that time of the apostles who are trying to take the gospel

out and are martyred in the process.

They are even up until like restoration times.

I think you get a lot of this feel of those who give themselves for truth.

And I love the exchange that's offered because I think when you live in a sin

sick world like we do today and like so many others have in the history

of men, you get stained, you know, in this effort to teach and to help and to

lift, you get stained in the process.

And what he promises is if you come to me, I exchange all of that.

I give you these white robes.

I give you a chance to rest for a season and to enter into my, you know, refuge.

That's his promise.

Then he talks about the sixth seal being open.

So this is that last seal before The end of times, right?

This is the time that we're in today, to some extent, and it stretches for a

long, long period, but that's, that's his promise, that there's going to be

this time of apostasy and a time of restoration that will come, and all of

that's sort of implied in the sixth seal.

He also talks about things that will change in this time.

It's kind of interesting, you can go into these and read them very

literally about the sun being darkened.

It says the sun became black as sathcloth of hair, the moon became

as blood, the stars fell from heaven, islands move around, mountains move.

I don't know what all of those symbols mean specifically.

But remember last week when we were talking about the stereogram, that magic

eye puzzle that sometimes you have to like let your eyes settle for a second?

For me what all of these verses together mean is things that have

always been constant or agreed upon by society or understood now shift.

You know where for thousands of years people sort of agreed on

moral rules and things that help a society grow and get along.

Where most people agreed on things about like You know who you are and

where you came from and all those things in this in this final dispensation

of time They start to be more fluid.

I just feel like that's our time you guys There's a great talk from Elder

Lund where he said he was talking about the youth and how they have to withstand

these shifting Moral tectonics of our time and that's what I felt like I could

see in chapter 6 these moral tectonics of things that were always understood

Now are fluid And what he promises is if you hold tight to his doctrine and

his truth, you will be firmly planted.

That's what we learn in Helaman, that no matter what these crazy winds

throw at us, if we are grounded in the gospel, we have, we have safe harbor.

And what happens if you don't is what you see at the end of that chapter,

where those who are kings and rulers and those who are used to hiding in

the hills, and they become exposed in all this shift and They begin to fear.

So you'll see that at the end of chapter six.

One of the things I really liked about John's writing in these chapters is it

almost feels like the tide going in and out as you read because sometimes things

get really intense and scary and hard and then he gives you a break and he like

the tide goes out for a second and you can catch your breath and you learn hope

filled things and then the tide comes back and you learn more hard like you're

gonna feel that Push and pull throughout these chapters chapter 7 is one of those

areas where the tide is out and you have a chance to Just soak in some Sun.

So enjoy chapter 7.

Here are some things that I love first off He talks about the destroying

angels that need to come so they're almost on the brink of you know Wiping

out the wicked things of the world.

You know how we have we know that has to happen That's what the wheat and

tares parable is all about that There will be a burning that occurs but

just like we learned about in the Book of Mormon with Jacob 5 Remember he

talked about the olive trees and how the servant comes repeatedly and says

like let's just try one more thing.

Let's just let's try that.

Let's move these trees here.

Let's graft things in like there is this constant Let's just try

one more thing to warn remember.

This is the savior constantly seeking to Bring more under his wings, that

refuge that comes in his gospel.

He wants as many as possible to come and that's what you're

going to see in this chapter.

Because basically what happens is he stops the destroying angels and says, another

angel comes and says, we need to gather.

We need to gather the elect first.

The symbol that they use of those who are righteous is

having a mark on their foreheads.

I really don't think you have to take this literally.

I think there's a lot of different ways to read it.

For me, the most comfortable was this just means you're taking his name upon you.

Now, there's a lot of good, you know, if you go back into the Old Testament and

you can read about having holiness to the Lord on the high priest, you know,

hat that they wore in the tabernacle.

There's a lot of cool references to this, but I really think this is very simple.

It means Are you making covenants and keeping them?

Are you staying tight and tied to the Lord?

If you are, then you have him in your mind.

You have him, your mind directs your actions.

You have him with you all the time.

So that's what he's alluding to.

It's got cool Passover imagery.

Because remember this happened in the Old Testament when the plagues had all

come through and you get to that final plague that's going to kill all the

firstborn and they have to mark their doorposts with the blood of the Lamb.

Like, that's that same idea.

He's saying, We need to go and we need to mark so that those who are.

living righteously are, have refuge.

Remember, that's what Zion is.

It's a refuge.

It's a place of gathering in strength.

So that's what he promises.

What I love is how that's accomplished.

So if you look in verse three and four, for example, it says, Hurt

not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees till we have sealed the

servants of God on their foreheads.

And I heard the number of them which were sealed and they were sealed.

144, 000 of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

And then he lists out These representative groups from the different tribes.

If you want the Joseph Smith translation and some commentary from prophets,

you can see that this verse is an allusion to the priesthood of God.

That this Melchizedek priesthood offers these saving ordinances

to any who will receive them.

That's who goes out and helps.

It's taking the promises of the priesthood to as many as will hear.

And you see how many come in verse 9.

So amidst all this devastation, and the seals being opened, and the struggle,

there is this surge of gathering.

And the results in 9.

After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of

all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,

and before the Lamb, clothed with their white robes, and palms in their hands,

and cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth

upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

This is the work that we are a part of.

This is that invitation to gather people to God from all nations and

all peoples and offer them these promised blessings that come through

covenants, through baptism, through the covenants you make in the temple.

These promises are lasting and I love knowing that in this grand

vision of John Countless people come.

It reminds me of, remember in Ezekiel 47, when we studied in the Old Testament,

and there's that visual of that river that comes from the temple doors.

Remember we talked about how like anything that river touches turned green and was

lush and full and he goes out a thousand yards and measures and it's like to the

ankles and then a thousand more yards and it's to the knees and like this river just

consumes everything and turns everything lush and living and That's the feel I got.

In fact, I drew that picture at the top of my margins in this chapter

because I think that's his invitation is to be a part of this restoration

of life and hope that comes by sharing the priesthood ordinances.

So you see a lot of that in this chapter.

I also love when John takes a minute to see each of these people individually.

So he has a chat with one of the angels and tries to

understand who these people are.

And the phrasing of it to me was just Beautiful.

It starts in 13.

And one of the elders answers saying unto me, What are these

which are arrayed in white robes?

And whence came they?

And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.

Which I kind of love.

This is John saying like, you're the angel.

Tell me who these people are.

Tell me what you know.

Similar to what you see with Nephi in the Book of Mormon when he doesn't

know all the answers and so he asks the angel to guide him through his vision.

That's sort of what happens in 14.

And he said unto me, These are they which came out of great tribulation

and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore, are they before the throne of God and serve him day and night

in his temple, and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

That's the end result of those who are gathered to God.

Those who get to make covenants and keep them, those, they get to Endure

tribulation in this earth life and wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

I think that's, one of the things I liked about that phrasing is, to

me it felt like faith and works.

It was this combination of, it's the grace of God that allows any of

those clothes to become clean again.

But it's my effort in that process and my desires and what I tried to accomplish

that Those two in tandem creates white they create this piece I think we have

to always remember that it's the Savior's grace that creates the power behind it

But I love the visual of both of those things working in harmony, even if they're

wildly disproportionate It also has this sweet little ending of the last two

verses Speaking of the fact that they're gonna live where the Lord is, and have a

place among, among close to the throne.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more.

Neither shall the sunlight on them, nor any heat.

For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and shall lead

them unto the living fountains of waters.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Part of the reason I love this is I think sometimes we get an idea

of the throne room of God and we picture just the very elect, you

know, I you picture just the people that you think in scriptural history

are like the best and the brightest.

And although I'm sure they're there, the promises that all of us who

endure tribulation and repented and chose to partake in the atonement of

Jesus Christ, we all get to be close.

We all get to be where he is.

We all get to be fed by him and led to living waters.

And it's just such a contrast to those warring horsemen of chapter six.

In fact, the ending sentence of God wiping away all tears, I just, there's

some beautiful allusions to, to Joel in these verses, but he talks about

this phase of things being restored, that there will be a time of comfort

and things will be restored to you that were Lost in this earth life, and

I just thought it's such an intimate gesture You know, I can't think of how

many people I would allow to wipe tears off my face There can't be many and the

very fact that this is how God interacts with us is just such a tender Poignant

description of the kind of God he is.

I just loved it

All right, chapter eight.

Now we shift to the seventh seal.

So interestingly, the seventh seal starts with silence.

There is this period of quiet.

It gives us the listing of half an hour, but most things in

Revelation are a bit fluid, whether they're literal or symbolic.

So I think this is just kind of a proportionally short time.

And it talks about trumpets that come during this seventh seal phase,

this last Opportunity for repentance.

There are these seven trumpets that come and I loved again, like I mentioned

last week I loved that book from Michael Wilcox on Revelation and he related this

seal and these trumpets that come to the story in Jericho You remember when we

studied that together with the idea of they circled around the city blowing these

trumpets In fact, even on the last day they circled the city seven times Like

there are so many chances for people to hear and see and repent Sadly only Rahab

and her family actually do help anyone and are saved, but you can see the Lord

just continually inviting people to come.

When I hear those trumpets and I, when I picture that story of Jericho, you

can almost see a hen spreading out her wings saying, I come, come into this

safe harbor, let go of all of this that's inside the walls and come out

to where you can find peace and safety.

And he does that seven days in a row.

And then on the last day, he does it seven times in a row, almost as this is like.

pleading with the people to come out and to hear him.

And that visual helped me understand these trumpets because each of them

comes and sounds in the hopes that people will change course and come

closer because time is running out.

So you'll see some of that.

First angel sounds his trumpet, and then a second one sounds his

trumpet, and different things occur.

By the time the third angel comes, we kind of see this great star fall.

What's tricky about reading the Book of Revelation is

time is a little bit flexible.

So sometimes you're gonna be reading things almost in chronological order,

and then you sort of all of a sudden jump in time back to premortal life,

where you'll jump to the Council in Heaven, or going forward to the

Second Coming, and it's kind of hard.

to get your bearings.

So this is a good place to go into the notes.

Or if you don't have the notes, go into the Institute Manual and it will help you.

But this is where you see Lucifer fall.

What I think is really cool is the way they describe it as a great fall.

So in verse 10, And the third angel sounded, meaning that trumpet goes

out, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp.

And it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters.

And the name of the star is called Wormwood.

And the third part of the waters became Wormwood.

And many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.

This is an allusion to when Lucifer fell, right?

He, he came from being an angel of light and he fell and the visual of that fall.

First, I think it's really powerful that he has this streak of light.

You know, like any shooting star that you see, there is this vibrant

streak of light that's eye catching, and then it goes to nothing.

There is no lasting power.

Do you guys remember when we let that, lit the ping pong ball on fire

and all that was left was just this like hollowed out shell of fibers?

It's that, it's that.

There's this eye catching burn, and then there is this.

blackness.

In fact, what's powerful to me is what happens because of the fall of this star.

So the same way if a star hit our planet right now, it will

create this gigantic crater.

Well, I don't know, maybe it would create something much worse than

that, but that's kind of what the visual that John sees is he sees a

hole in the earth that is bottomless.

That's how he describes it.

And then when you go into chapter nine, you see things

start to emerge from that hole.

So that star falling from heaven isn't just sad because the star falls.

It's, it's another one of those things that, because that seal has been

opened, This next phase of devastation is allowed to emerge and that's kind

of the visual you want to have in your mind before you jump into chapter 9.

It's interesting to me that all throughout those verses we just read in 8, only a

fraction of the people are destroyed.

It's almost like those trumpets in Jericho where they're, he's, he's almost like

shooting a warning shot across the bow.

It's not that everybody gets wiped out.

It's like each one of these successive trumpets is trying to

warn and encourage people to change.

So only a portion of the people are destroyed.

When you go into nine, you see this bottomless pit take its course.

I just think what John is particularly great at is creating these Um, contrasting

images for us to stew over and learn from, you know, for example, we already

learned about the Savior being these living waters that can bless and

bring life to everything they touch.

And here, especially in that last chapter, you see that wormwood, which is just this

oily substance that poisons by degrees.

Um, I think you see those two contrasting.

In nine, you see the contrast to the Savior's offering of light and truth

and things that come from heaven and touch the earth and bless it.

The opposite of that is things that emerge from this.

Um, and it's kind of a scary read.

The tide is back in you guys and in chapter nine, you're going to feel

it because basically what happens is out of this pit emerges smoke.

That's what comes first.

So if you look in the middle of verse two, it says there arose a smoke out of

the pit as the smoke of a great furnace and the sun and the air were darkened

by reason of the smoke of the pit.

I think this is important because I don't think it's necessarily

always that the Lord darkens things.

You know, I don't think he.

Changes the mood to blood necessarily that the sun is darkened because the Lord

chose it that way I mean, I don't know all the ramifications of this But what

the verses teach is that that happens because of this smoke that comes there is

so much confusion and fear and Struggle and sin that people's vision is clouded.

I think it's really interesting the order of things.

So first, you're going to see, come out of this pit, you're

going to see this smoke arise.

Then it's going to be this horde of locusts that devours

everything in its path.

And then last, you're going to see these horsemen.

Millions of horsemen that come up out of this river.

And it's the progression of them that I thought was so interesting, because

it feels like the adversary to me.

I think he always begins with a smoke.

You see that many times in scripture.

If you go in the notes, I lay out a bunch of these, but where he's, his

goal at first is not to terrify you.

Right?

He doesn't, he wants to lull you into this carnal submission.

So he's going to begin with smoke.

He's going to begin by confusing you and maybe, you know, like making you struggle

to understand and get your bearings.

There's this smoke that comes.

And then once he's got you discombobulated, that's

when the next thing emerges.

For me, this is like, if you struggle with a point of your testimony,

or you're struggling to keep one of your covenants, he often will.

It comes because there is this smoke.

You've got a misunderstanding about church history, or maybe you've

misinterpreted doctrine somehow, or whatever the reasons are.

The smoke is causing you to be a little bit off balance.

When you're a little bit off balance, and you don't find a way to steady yourself,

that's when he can actually come at you.

So, in the next phase, you get, for ten verses or so, this

description of this horde of locusts.

Remember, we study locusts in the Old Testament.

They, they are this, you know, creature that can come and devastate a landscape.

In fact, we still see it in our day to day.

We read through this when we were talking about the plagues in Egypt,

but they can come and just wipe out all the crops in an area.

They get into every house, they get into every nook and cranny, and they

just devour everything in their path.

And I think that's Satan's strategy if we don't get our bearings when

we feel doubt or fear or struggle by holding tight to our covenants Then

he takes those opportunities and he tries to send things that will

obliterate everything else you believe.

I just have seen this, I think I've seen it with myself at times and people

I love where he just sends in hordes.

What's interesting is these locusts are not traditional bugs.

These are locusts that have weird faces and hair like women and like

it's this odd, this odd creature.

And I guess there might be a lot of different ways to interpret these verses.

For me, the like zoomed out view was Satan creates unnatural things that To

intimidate and to scare and they're not, when you feel that confusion, I think

that's exactly what he wants for you.

He wants you to be caught off guard and to be confused because he's a contrast

to what the Savior offers, which is the simple, pure, beautiful truths, right?

I think you see that into this third devastation that comes out, these

millions of horsemen that come out riding across the earth, which I think is just

the symbol of once Satan has a hold, once he's got his, Swarm of locusts

out destroying testimonies and truth.

He comes with this rampage of, you know, people who want to tumble

over your testimony and knock everything in their path down.

What I love is that such a contrast to what the Savior brings, you know, he,

he came with just one, he is just one and he comes in humble circumstances and

he's born in a manger and he's, it's such a vivid contrast to these millions of.

Everything else.

It just takes one, uh, to combat all of this darkness.

And I think, to me, that was the message of 9.

I also think the warning at the very end of 9 was a powerful one.

So it says in 20, And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues,

yet repented not the works of their hands.

That they should not worship devils and idols of gold and silver and

brass and stone and wood Which neither can see nor hear nor walk.

The reason I think devastation is allowed to come is because I think the

Lord is constantly Stretching his arm out saying like come to me I need you

to come closer the same way when Elijah Stopped the heavens remember and no rain

fell in the hopes that people would turn and repent and come close to God That's

what the Lord is hoping for us, but what he finds is people still don't change,

their hearts don't turn, and a bunch are still remaining who worship other gods.

And remember, this is John's language, and I think in our day

it's probably a little different.

We have different things that we worship, you know, different comfortable gods

that we've created with our own hands.

And he's warning that you're going to hear these trumpets sound, you're

going to hear these invitations to come close, and you can't discount it.

You have to set down the idols that we've created for ourselves and

turn to the only source of truth.

Okay.

We just struggled through that surf of storms and chaos in chapter

nine, and now we get a break.

The tide's going to go out in chapter 10 and we get a chance to see something

mighty and glorious to kind of buoy us up.

And that comes in the form of a mighty angel.

So if you look in one, it says, And I saw another mighty angel come down

from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head,

and his face was as it were the sun and his feet as pillars of fire.

I like about this visual, especially contrasting what we

just read, not just that there's.

One person who comes compared to like the hordes of locusts and you know millions

of horsemen I also love how he comes this mighty angel comes with bright radiant

light To me, this is kind of like the Lord's way of pushing out that darkness.

Remember he said when light comes in, it chases the darkness?

I think it's in Covenants.

And that's what I see happening here.

The same way if you had a horde of locusts or whatever, and you put on this

bright, hot light, they would scatter and scramble into these dark places.

And that's what I picture happening in 10.

That this one mighty angel who can straddle the sea and the

earth, um, Scares off the darkness and brings a work forward.

What's interesting to me is The focus isn't so much on this mighty angel.

We learn from the Joseph Smith translation and from the Doctrine and Covenants that

this is, in fact, Michael who is coming, and he has this mission for John to do.

It's just fascinating to me that despite all this darkness and the

millions of horses and all the stuff that John is seeing, this one mighty

angel cuts through all of that to give John a job, a calling of sorts.

That's kind of how I read verse, er, chapter 10.

Because basically he comes with seven thunders.

That's how it's described.

And thunder is just a way to communicate.

It represents Communication from God.

So he comes with this perfect communication from God to tell John what

his part of this mighty work is, that he's gonna be a part of this gathering.

And a big part of what he's gonna need to do is to write this

revelation and to seal things up.

I don't know entirely what this means.

I studied a bunch of different theories on it.

You can get some of it from like DNC 88, but this is an understanding that

some things are not revealed just yet.

Some things that John saw are not available to us.

Some came through Joseph Smith and other, other prophets, but I think this is our

understanding that this was John's calling from this angel to do this great work.

What I like is what comes with this calling.

So the visual that happens is this angel who come, who comes and, you

know, has one foot on land and one foot on the sea and is this mighty angel.

He comes and has this little book in his hand.

It's almost like a Smaller version of what we read in chapter 5.

Remember when God the Father has a book in his right hand and the Savior

takes it, that scroll that's sealed up, and he takes on that calling

of sorts, and heaven rejoices?

This is almost a mini version of that.

Because this angel has a book in his hand and John is invited to take it,

but John has to choose to take it.

In fact, that's what you see in the verses.

In 8 it says, And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, saying,

Go, and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel, which

standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.

And I went unto the angel and said unto him, This is John's choice to,

yes, I will accept this calling and this work that you have for me to do.

That's how I read it.

And he said unto me, take it and eat it up, and it shall make

thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.

This, I think, is kind of a sweet understanding about stewardships.

I think every stewardship you have and I have, whether it be our family

stewardships or our callings that we have through the church, they all Require

all of us, you know, when john has to take that book and consume it It's like

taking this calling and making it a part of him It's remember we did this

in the doctrine of covenants when we made those pastry scrolls and we ate

them That that's what's happening here.

It's becoming a part of him what the angel witnesses is it's going to be a mixed bag

There are parts of this calling that are going to be so delicious to you and there

are parts that are going to be bitter and I think that's Every stewardship I've ever

had, you guys, like, they all have both.

That's how you progress at growing it.

In fact, John testifies to that.

And he says, and I took the little book out of the angel's hand and I ate it up

and it was in my mouth, sweet as honey.

And as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

I think if you struggle with your calling or with your stewardship, whatever it

is, just know you're in good company.

They're both, they come with.

Abundant gifts and blessings, and they also come with struggles and

strains that will test you and try you and help you progress.

And I love that you see that in chapter 10.

I'm sure many times in the past you've heard about that sign of the

last days that two prophets will be in Jerusalem and they'll teach in

the streets and they'll be killed in the streets and left in the streets.

And it's this horrific scene of a sign that will indicate that time is almost up.

What I think is sad about that is we often focus so much on that piece that we miss

the miracles that cushion that story.

And they are.

Phenomenal miracles.

So read all of chapter 11, not just the middle.

It's basically what happens is he promises that he will send prophets

and that they will come and they will do miraculous things for the people.

So if you go in the verses, you can see in three, and I will give

power unto two witnesses and they shall prophesy 1, 203 score days.

Clothed in sackcloth.

That just means three and a half years.

Usually that's a figurative term that means like a period of trial or struggle.

Kind of like the three and a half years of, you know,

famine time that Elijah caused.

Same idea.

So, I don't think we have to take all this as It's exactly literal.

But there will be two servants.

In fact, I think it's Bruce R.

McConkie that says these will certainly be members of the Quorum of the Twelve

or members of the First Presidency.

So that's who is here.

And what he speaks of is their connection to truth.

And it's in such a beautiful way.

It's in four.

These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks standing

before the God of the Earth.

This is an allusion back to, I think it's in Zechariah 4.

We talked about this in the Old Testament a little bit as well, but

this is that visual that where there's these candlesticks, like a menorah

kind of candlestick, that is directly connected to these olive trees.

Meaning, meaning it has this It's this constant stream of oil that

allows it to beam out brightly.

There is no, those, those wells that hold the oil at the top of those

candlesticks, they never run dry because it's connected directly to the tree.

I think that's such a beautiful illusion when you think about people like.

Those 15 men who hold those apostolic keys.

They are Directly connected to the source of truth and light and they will

never burn out That's the promise and so you see him speaking about that in the

verses Then he says they'll have great power like power like Elijah to seal

up the heavens and to move mountains and to create miracles I mean for three

and a half years or whatever that term symbolizes a long period of time They

will be able to do great wonders and bless that portion of the world, or maybe

all the world, from where they stand.

That, I think, is a remarkable thing.

It says that people will come up against them and they won't be able to stop them

because they have a message to get out.

I mean, it feels like Abinadi, or even Joseph Smith, who no harm could

really come to him in any lasting way until he had his message finished.

You know, Abinadi could end up in shackles at King Noah's Court,

Joseph could be imprisoned or stuck in a basement in Liberty Jail,

but His message would come forth.

His days were known to the Lord.

And that's what, you get that feeling with these two witnesses as well.

So in seven it says, 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.

And this is when you hear those prophecies about them lying in the streets

and people celebrating their death.

What's hard about that, and again, I don't know if this is literal or figurative.

It's probably both.

Um, I think this is the idea of truth looking like it's dead,

hope looking like it's dead, peace looking like it's dead for a season.

What is powerful to me about this visual is what comes next.

That it says that they are restored.

So the fact that people are rejoicing over their death doesn't last.

In 11 it says, And after three days and a half the Spirit of life from

God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, and great

fear fell upon them which saw them.

Unlike Abinadi or the Savior himself, in this situation everybody sees it.

It's almost like a Lazarus type moment, you know, where everybody,

whether they were believers or not, got to witness this.

incredible miracle moment where these two prophets stand.

I mean, I can't, I can't even imagine the weight of the air in that

space when you, when that happens.

That is the cushion of miracles that I think we have to teach

our kids about this prophecy.

Yes, there will be dark days, but oh, they are cushioned with great miracles

on this side and a phenomenal Christ like kind of miracle on the other side.

And that's what ushers in these last days.

It's not just the bleakness of what happens in the middle.

And that's kind of what you see at the end of those verses is that he's, the

angels start to celebrate, because this is kind of the beginning of that last phase,

almost like they're anticipating victory.

Remember, time is a little fluid in these verses, so it'll sound like The

Savior has come, and this begins, like, touching the Mount of Olives, but my

understanding is this is kind of that phase where the angels are seeing, seeing

that countdown clock get smaller and smaller, and knowing that the time for

the Savior's coming is getting close, and they rejoice in that proximity.

Chapter 12 is one of those chapters that you get much richer understanding if you

read it in the appendix because Basically when Joseph Smith offered translations on

these verses in some cases, he rearranged them a little bit So it's it's a little

easier to understand if you actually go back to the appendix and read the

full chapter But there's a lot of cool imagery in this chapter basically he's

talking about the time if you look in the chapter heading you can see that this

Chapter is focused in on the time of the great apostasy and the time of trying

to bring truth into the world What's powerful to me is the visual that he

uses So he describes a woman who radiates light, similar to the angel that we

just read about in the previous chapter.

She shines like the sun, and about her head are these twelve stars, and under

her feet is this luminous, bright moon.

And she is expecting, and the baby that she is expecting

represents Zion, essentially.

So you can go on the Joseph Smith translation and see that this is kind of

like, The greater truth, the kingdom of God, and then the baby that she's about

to deliver is like truth on the earth.

This idea of Christ's church being formed and established, and you can go in the

notes and learn a little bit more, but I kind of love the visual of it, because you

hear The opposition coming in really fast.

If you look in three, there's this allusion to a red dragon.

In fact, what it describes is that there is a red dragon that is following this

woman and chasing after her in the hopes of devouring the baby as it's born, which

just fits with Lucifer's plan, right?

Like he just wants to Shroud light in darkness.

He wants to cover up truth.

He wants to devour it and make it disappear and He just can't.

In fact, there's all these precautions put in place so that that can't happen

fully even though the great apostasy Seems to put everything in darkness for

a time There are these little flashes of light and that's how we see in the

chapter in the verses So, for example, it says in five, And she brought forth

a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, or an iron rod, the

word of truth, as you read in the JST.

And her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,

that she should feed her there, that they should feed her there a thousand

two hundred and threescore days.

So this is the understanding, for me, when I read this, this is like when

you see Portions of truth kind of tucked away, you know, you see things

like the plates that get buried in order to emerge at the right time.

They're in a place of preservation and a place that God prepared so that

when the time was right, they could emerge kind of hidden from this.

great darkness that was sort of consuming things.

You also see truths written into things like stained glass windows in

medieval Europe that you can still see today, or paintings of truth.

You see these glimmers of light all over the place in history.

Even though there was a time of apostasy where most of truth was clouded or

lost, there are these flashes of light.

And I feel like that's what it means when This woman is in the wilderness

and yet she is preserved and protected in all these different ways.

So you'll see some of that.

You also see how we overcome.

Right in the middle of this chapter, right when things seem dark and you

can feel this dragon creeping in and getting closer and closer to

this woman, you get this flashback.

Almost like you're watching a Netflix series and the the

story shifts all the way back.

We go all the way back to premortality and the war in heaven.

It's like from Verses 7 to 13 or so.

What's fascinating to me is, I think this is a bit of a pep talk.

I think this is John trying to say, remember who you are.

You've been in this spot before, where it seemed like Satan was

growing in power and that his arguments were getting persuasive.

And you've been in this spot.

Remember how you voted last time.

Remember how this went and how he fell.

And remember that all of his people were cast out.

We've been here before, so let's surge forward.

I think that's why he has this little.

intermission of sorts that's tucked into the middle of chapter 12.

It's a premortal game plan that he's asking us to review so that we have

confidence in the game of our day.

What I think is really empowering, in fact, there's a quote or a talk from Elder

Hamlet that's in the notes where he uses these same verses and he says basically,

What John is doing here is he's trying to give us the strategies that we used

premortally so that we can use them now.

And you can find those in 11.

It says, And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word

of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

This is the play that we used.

You know, this is the incredible play that worked over the adversary last

time that we can use this time, that we take advantage of the atonement

of Jesus Christ and we overcome through the blood of the Lamb.

That we don't just have testimonies, but we live them.

We keep our testimonies.

That's what gave us the power to overcome the adversary.

Pre mortally, it works for us today as well.

And then that last one.

They love not their lives unto the death.

Meaning, I consecrate my whole self in.

I'm not holding back.

I'm not worried.

I'm not fearful of the outcomes.

I am all in.

And when we are all in, like we were pre mortally, we can channel that same power.

That's his invitation.

He's like, take The version you were then.

I know you can't remember it well.

In fact, Elder Hamula talks about how you should tap into,

those qualities are not gone.

You just have to unearth them a little bit.

You have to remember and find out the strength that you had

pre mortally and use it today.

Because Satan's strategies haven't changed.

So the same tactics that helped us overcome him pre

mortally can help us here.

So you see a lot of that in those first three verses.

You also see that Satan's getting worried because he's running out of time.

So if you see in 12, he hath but a short time left.

This to me is, you know, remember when he's chatting with Moses and

he gets all blustery and mad because Moses won't worship him and you can

see him getting kind of flustered.

That's how I feel about the end of 12.

You see him getting flustered and trying to chase down this woman

and he can't, he can't get to her.

In fact, his last remaining strategy is to Seek after her children.

So it says in 17, And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to

make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God,

and have a testimony of Jesus Christ.

To me, this is what you see Satan do all the time.

First, he tries to go after truth, and confuse people about what is true.

If that doesn't work, Because it can't.

Truth always shines out in the end.

Then he seeks after the children themselves, those who believe

in that truth, and he tries to pull them down instead.

And that's the warning that I think you find in chapter 12.

We get another crazy cool beast coming out of the water in chapter 13.

This movie has different parts, different components to it.

They're all different kinds of predators and you can learn in the

chapter heading that these are just to represent the different degenerate

kingdoms and this idea of vying for power and authority and you know,

pushing other people out of their way.

It leans heavily on what we studied in Daniel.

Those visions that we read about there, you see some of those

same predators mentioned here.

And I think the warning is just a simple one.

It is.

Whatever god you worship in this life.

Becomes your demise in the next one.

Meaning, if you worship anything other than the true and living

God, you end up being shackled.

That's what you see in 9 and 10.

If any man have an ear, let him hear.

He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity.

He that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword.

I think it's the same thing.

I was in New York with my parents and we were watching A Christmas Carol one

night and you know that Marley's ghost who comes in with all those shackles

that are attached to these money boxes.

I think that's what John is trying to tell us.

He's saying if you're seeking after the praise of the world, you'll end

up losing yourself in it because the world's opinions and appetites

change all the time, which means you have to change all the time.

If you're seeking wealth or power, you're going to end up Selling yourself

in the process, selling your soul in the process in order to achieve it.

And so he warns about that.

If you live by the sword, you'll die by the sword.

And then he talks about another illusion from Daniel about that image that when

you choose to worship any other god, any of these false gods, they create

images that you have to bow down to.

Similar to what we saw with Abednego.

What I love about that connection point is.

He, if you think back on that story that we studied in the Old Testament,

when they refused to bow down and they refused to pray to that image of

gold, they're thrown in a fire, right?

There's this, um, fear that's supposed to set in on them when that fire is ignited

seven times its normal temperature.

But what I remember most is the miracle that happens.

In those moments, I think when we choose to stand in a world that is commanding

us to kneel before whatever gods they're creating for us, when we choose to

stand, even if we're thrown into a fire, the promise is you are not alone.

I actually love that about that story.

Remember how, I think it's King Nebuchadnezzar who like looks

into the furnace and he says, didn't we put three guys in there?

It looks like there's four.

You know, they are, not only do they come out without a hair of their head being

singed and their clothes don't even smell like fire, they have someone with them

the whole time and they are preserved.

And that's, I think the promise of worshiping the true God

that you will always have.

Strength and protection and fellowship in this, in this work.

I think that's the message of 13.

In mighty contrast to that great glistening statue and all the false

gods they were commanding you to worship in the last chapter, you see

the true and living God comes straight through in verse 1 of chapter 14.

And I looked, and lo, a lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred

and forty four thousand, having his father's name written in their foreheads.

This is You know, that last trumpet has sounded the.

The saints have circled Jericho for the last time, and as many times as

he possibly can, the Lord has called people to come under his wings, and

now it is a time of, time is out.

You know, it's almost like in all these chapters you can visualize this hourglass

with that sand just slipping through, where the Lord is continually inviting

people just to come back, and now.

Time is out.

And so this is where things shift in a beautiful, bright way.

Things shift.

So he comes on Mount Zion and people sing.

In fact, they sing a new song together.

You can learn a little bit more about that in the Doctrine and Covenants.

It's all in the notes, but this idea of Those who are righteous know the song.

They know the words to the song.

They know the melody and they can all sing together.

Those who have his name written upon their foreheads.

You know, they've made covenants and they've kept them and they

seek covenant connection with him.

Those are who come.

I love that you see so much about covenants in these verses.

Like if you look in four and five, I actually felt like you

could see most of the covenants we make in an endowment ceremony is

sort of woven into these verses.

You can see it in the notes as well, but he's He's rewarding those who

kept their covenants by saying, you come with me in this time.

When that second coming comes and there is that, you know, rising with

the resurrection of the just, that's the promise that you get to come in

these moments and be a part of this magnificent occurrence that happens.

He also talks about the everlasting gospel coming forth.

So you see that in six, and I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having

the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth and to

every nation and kindred and tongue, and people saying with a loud voice, fear

God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come and worship him.

That made heaven and earth and the sea and the fountain of water.

Again, this is one of those times when I don't think chronology flows

perfectly through the chapter.

I think he's saying, this is what the restoration is like.

In fact, Angel Moroni talks about these verses with Joseph Smith, that this

is that time when truths are being restored and light is on the earth

and it will not be pulled back again.

That's this radiant time that we all get to be a part of if we are part of

this covenant connection with the Lord.

And then he warns about the opposite, that if you choose And

if you choose not to engage, then you get to taste the wrath of God.

And you see that in verse 10, that there's no rest, night or day,

for those who choose this path.

And then he counters it by teaching you about what happens to those who are

Who do have his name written on their foreheads that they have patience and

they rest from their labors I think that's what President Nelson's been teaching

us this idea of what rest really looks like It's not so much you sit still or

that you sit on a puffy cloud in heaven.

It's that you have this Settled assurance that you're on the right team

and this team will be victorious You know Like there are I think all of us

at least if you played sports growing up you have those moments when you

know Solidly, how this game will end.

Not that you've seen every play ahead of time, but you know, because you can feel

the tide pulling you towards victory.

Like, I don't know how to describe it.

There were times when I could just feel it, that we knew our momentum was right,

we were playing as a team, there was a harmony, and we could not be stopped.

And that's what I think he means when you find rest among the saints, is you have

that momentum and it it will roll forward.

Now what topples that great statue in Nebuchadnezzar's dream is this

stone that rolls forth without hands.

Remember, that's what he's teaching us in these verses.

And then he talks about the beginning of the harvest, that the first they will

bring in all the wheat and they will make sure that all that wheat is gathered in.

And then the second harvest occurs and that's when the tares are gathered

and things will be bundled and burned.

And we'll get more of that as we jump into that in the following week.

Welcome back, you guys.

It's time for the creative side of week 50.

So just like every week, my goal here is to give you three simple

ways that you can take some of the things you learn from John's writing

and apply them to everyday life.

Ideally in weird, memorable ways so that your kids connect the excitement

and the anticipation they feel with the scriptures themselves.

I just think it's a powerful way to teach.

So let me walk you through a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing.

And then you can pick and choose your favorites or do something.

Totally different, but let me walk you through the basics.

Okay, first and foremost, I don't have anything to hold up for this one.

Um, I wanted to reintroduce that idea of when we're studying the book of

Revelation and even to some degree trying to understand our own Revelation, we

have to go through a bit of a process.

There's a, there's a way that we can come to know things that are true.

Sometimes with the book of Revelation, we have very clear answers.

Like in Joseph Smith's writings and the Doctrine and Covenants, we have clear

answers to what certain symbols mean.

Other things.

We're just guessing it, but I think there's some really

powerful ways to help your kids.

figure out how to guess well, or how to get their own

understanding about certain truths.

And there's a process that you'll go through that is really similar

to another process that your kids might be familiar with.

So if your kids have ever used the Dingbats app, that's where you have those

little word puzzles that say things like they'll have the word weather and then

have an arrow pointing down below it.

And the phrase that it's trying to teach you is Under the weather, but you

sort of have to go through a process of decoding that in order to understand it.

So for this object lesson, you're just gonna either find some of

the ones I linked you in the notes online or you can just download the

dingbats between the lines app and talk your kids through this process.

We'll walk through it individually as well.

But I think the process that you use to decode those cool little brain

puzzles helps in Revelation as well.

So we'll go through that.

The second one is the more adventurous of the three because

it involves a very sharp knife.

So you need a big butcher knife like this.

You also need a piece of fruit.

We used an apple, pineapple maybe could work, anything sort of like that.

And then you need a piece of paper.

The reason we're going to do this object lesson, it's a cutting object lesson that

will teach your kids a very important principle behind what you read in the

book of revelation and that is that those who are righteous don't need to fear

the last days that when you keep the covenants that you make with the Lord

when you diligently try to you know stay in his You have protection in these last

days and you don't need to be afraid.

And the way you teach that is with this very cool apple chopping lesson.

So I don't want to break, I don't want to teach you too much upfront, but I

think this is one that your kids will remember for a long time to come.

So grab a blank piece of paper and apple and a really sharp knife and

you'll have everything you need.

Okay.

Last but not least, I wanted to help my kids see the coming together of things.

This week you're going to learn about the seals, these seals being opened.

There's.

It's seven seals that are opened and by the seventh seal, that's

when the savior comes and restores things and the millennium kicks off

and you have this moment of peace.

But for most of what we studied this week, there's a lot of

chaos and confusion and turmoil.

But what I think you always have to remember is that the reason John is

teaching us this vision is because this is all part of God's plan.

It was laid out.

Before the world began, this understanding that Christ would be the victor and

there would be a definite win at the end is part of God's plan from the get go.

And so I wanted my kids to see that.

And a really cool way you can teach that is by creating snowflakes.

So that process you go through of folding things up small and making weird cuts

that seem like they might be devastating.

And then that big open reveal of when it becomes something that has

pattern and symmetry and beauty.

That's what we're going to get across.

But I didn't want to do just regular snowflakes.

I thought it would be fun to make something bigger.

So if you haven't made these before, we're making these gigantic

snowflakes that are just made with regular pieces of copy paper.

I give you a few different sizes in the printable and some with

patterns on them like this.

But the idea is really simple.

It's that as you go through this process of creating this snowflake,

you can walk through what happens in the book of Revelation this week.

Even though Chaos comes and war comes and devastation comes it all leads to

a point when there will be this Peace and this pattern and symmetry that

will indicate for us the hand of God I think you'll see it abundantly clearly

in the verses and hopefully the object lesson helps you see it as well This

one, you just need copy paper and the printable and you'll be good to go.

Alright, gather those supplies and let's get started.

Alright you guys, that is it for week 50.

Alright, I know it's a lot to study and it's a bit of an odd blend with all

the Christmas tasks you're juggling.

But I gotta tell ya, I really think there's power in this combination.

I was skeptical at first, but over the course of the week I found

myself buoyed up a little bit.

I found my appreciation for the Christmas season and the gift that is our savior.

emboldened and empowered by studying the words of John.

I think the contrast is so glaring, it is so vibrant, it like jumps

off the page and it makes you appreciate his Humble condescension,

even more, at least it did for me.

So I hope it does for you as well.

If you need extra help, you're welcome to join me on Instagram.

I am happy to chat through some of these insights and go into

more detail on the object lessons.

If you have questions or concerns about things, come find me there.

So Instagram 10 a.

m.

Monday, that's Mountain Time.

I'll pop on and I'll do a quick live so we can walk through things.

If that's not an option for you, you're welcome to watch it on my

feed later, or you can just ask me questions on the discussion boards

in the course, or over on the YouTube questions or comments, um, or on Gather.

So if you haven't had a chance to log in over at gather.

mechmom.

com, that's where the course is going to shift next year for the

Book of Mormon, and it's a great place to chat and ask questions and

You know, share your thoughts about what you're learning in these verses.

My goal with this new site is to create a community feel where you

can learn from each other, not just from the words that I'm saying.

So I hope it, I hope you find that over on Gather.

And the more of you that come and share your thoughts, the better that'll get.

So come join us.

But otherwise, enjoy this week of Revelation, you guys.

And I'll see you next week when we get to dive headfirst into Christmas.