The Second Coming and the Millennium - Seven Keys to Being Ready for the Second Coming

From these texts we see that we must be overcomers, we must not worship or marvel after the beast, we must not defile, work abomination, make lies, or take away from the words of the Book of Revelation. These are all essential to be written in the book of life, and they are seven things needed to be ready for the second coming. They are in order of what we must do as well.

1. Overcoming

The first thing is to overcome. In fact, it is impossible to fulfil any of the other conditions without first overcoming. The best place to find out what is meant by a word in the Book of Revelation is to look elsewhere in the Book of Revelation. We find the answer in the key chapter of Revelation for our day, chapter 17. (Rev 17:14)These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

Here we see that we ourselves cannot overcome. The Lamb overcomes for us. He does the entire work of salvation. But there are three points that relate to us. First, we have to be called by him. Secondly, we have to be chosen by him. Finally, after that we must be faithful to him. Once our calling and election are sure, there remains only faithfulness to him. But this is not a heavy yoke, for the love of Christ constrains us.

2. Not to Worship the Beast

The second thing is not to worship the beast. The beast is the Papacy, and worshipping the Papacy is accepting its authority and doctrines. It is accepting the Pope in the place of Christ. The Pope claims to be the vicar of Christ, that is the antichrist, the one who takes the place of Christ on earth. The worship the beast is to belong to the Roman Catholic Church and accept its authority and participate in its false doctrines and pagan practices.

3. Not to Wonder After the Beast

The third thing is not to wonder after the beast. One does not have to be a practicing Catholic to have one's name blotted from the book of life. One can simply wonder after the beast. That is what Protestantism does. While it may have separated from Rome as an institution, it wonders after the beast by retaining the pagan doctrine of the Trinity and Sunday worship. When an individual receives light on this serious matter, fails to repent, and fails to come out of these false denominations, then she runs the risk of having her name blotted from the book of life.

4. Avoiding Defilement

1. Unclean Meat

The fourth thing is not to be a defiler. All who are not overcomes in Christ are defilers. There are basically seven types of defiling described in the Bible. The first way to defile that the Bible mentions is defiling oneself by eating unclean things. (Lev 11:44)For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Lev 22:8)That which dieth of itself, or is torn with beasts, he shall not eat to defile himself therewith: I am the LORD.

2. Poor Sanitation and Unhealthful Living Conditions

The second defilement that we must avoid is hygienic as well, the defilement of poor sanitation and unhealthful living conditions. We must be as clean and healthy as possible. While this may seem strange as a point of faith, in practice it is not strange at all. The most visible and obvious characteristic of paganism is lack of sanitation, as thousands of missionaries can attest to. (Lev 15:31)Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness; that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile my tabernacle that is among them.

3. Sexual Uncleanness

The third form of defilement is sexual uncleanness, especially adultery, bestiality, incest,and vile homosexual acts, sins that are becoming more and more common as the day draws nearer. (Lev 18:20)Moreover thou shalt not lie carnally with thy neighbour's wife, to defile thyself with her. (Lev 18:23)Neither shalt thou lie with any beast to defile thyself therewith: neither shall any woman stand before a beast to lie down thereto: it is confusion. (Lev 18:24)Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you: (Lev 18:28)That the land spue not you out also, when ye defile it, as it spued out the nations that were before you. (Lev 18:30)Therefore shall ye keep mine ordinance, that ye commit not any one of these abominable customs, which were committed before you, and that ye defile not yourselves therein: I am the LORD your God. (Eze 33:26)Ye stand upon your sword, ye work abomination, and ye defile every one his neighbour's wife: and shall ye possess the land?

4. Sacrifice to Idols

The fourth form of defilement is human sacrifice to idols. While this may seem extreme, it is in fact practiced in many ways, among them the death sentence as carried out by governments not authorized by God to do so. The populace believes that such deaths help to preserve law and order, and this is the same mentality of ancient heathens, who thought that human sacrifice helped to maintain social order and fertility. But the living sacrifice to idols by living a life consecrated to the pleasures of the world is rampant today as every day. In the mass, the "bloodless" sacrifices is made in the presence of idols, blasphemy is pronounced at the tinkling of a bell, and the people fall down and worship a piece of white bread. (Lev 20:3)And I will set my face against that man, and will cut him off from among his people; because he hath given of his seed unto Molech, to defile my sanctuary, and to profane my holy name. (Jer 32:34)But they set their abominations in the house, which is called by my name, to defile it.(Eze 20:7)Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. (Eze 20:18)But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. (Eze 22:3)Then say thou, Thus saith the Lord GOD, The city sheddeth blood in the midst of it, that her time may come, and maketh idols against herself to defile herself. (Eze 37:23)Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.

5. Communicable Diseases

Interestingly, quarantining of communicable diseases is mentioned as a factor of defilement. While quarantines are generally in effect, the great sin of biological warfare in on the increase, and certainly qualifies as the defilement the Bible warns against. Populaces who support their governments' use of biological weapons or even the development of such, are defilers and cannot be written in the book of life. (Num 5:2)Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: (Num 5:3)Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.

6. Alcoholic Drinks

The book of Daniel speaks of the defilement that comes not only from eating unclean meat, but from drinking wine. The non-medicinal use of alcohol is defiling, and prevents one's name appearing in the book of life. (Dan 1:8)But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.

7 Evil Speaking

At the time of Jesus, many traditions not found in the Bible were commanded by the leaders. Among these was the ritual washing of hands before eating, along with reciting a blessing. Jesus was criticized for not following this non-Biblical practice, and accused of eating with defiled hands. He took the opportunity to teach the lesson that the evil words that people speak defile them. (Mat 15:18)But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. (Mat 15:20)These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man. (Mar 7:15)There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. (Mar 7:18)And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; (Mar 7:23)All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

The apostle Paul also summarizes the laws in regard to defilement. He gives the reason behind these laws, that the human body is the temple of God and thus must be kept holy. (1Co 3:17)If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. (1Ti 1:10)For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine. Jude affirms the necessity of maintaining sexual purity. The principle is mentioned in Jude as well. (Jud 1:8)Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.

So there are seven kinds of defilement mentioned in the Bible: unclean meat, unhygienic living, sexual uncleanness, idolatry, contageous diseases, alcoholic drink, and evil speaking. Any of these can keep our names out of the book of life.

5. Working Abomination

The fifth thing is not to work abomination. (Deu 27:15)Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen. (2Ki 23:24)Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD.

Abominations in the Bible relate to the making of idols and worshipping them. This is associated with sexual immorality and with fraternizing with familiar spirits. The proliferation of false faith in the word today is associated with growing sexual immorality and rampant interest in the occult, spirits, and mediums. These abominations can blot one's name from the book of life.

6. Making Lies

The sixth thing is not to make lies. From the very beginning, loss of dominion was the result of deceit. The serpent said to the woman, "Thou shalt not surely die." This first lie is the basis of all lies that followed. It is the basis of false religion in the world today. The human temptation to deceive is the foundational factor in the lost human condition. The love of truth is absolutely essential for being found in the book of life. One must first love truth before he can understand and accept the message of the Bible.

7. Integrity of the Book of Revelation

The seventh thing is not to subtract any words from the Book of Revelation. This condition seems to be strange. But it has a historical reason. The early followers of Christ had only the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament. In fact, even that was not clearly defined as a canon before the end of the first century at the Jewish council of Jamnia. That is why the New Testament writings quote some sources, such as the Book of Enoch, as authoritative, even though it is not found in our Bibles today. The worship service of the early followers of Christ had the same format as the service in the Jewish synagogues of the time. We get a glimpse of the fact that the apostles assumed even Gentile believes would hear the reading of the Books of Moses in the "synagogue" on the Sabbath day. (Act 15:21)For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

The word "synagogue" today refers to a Jewish place of worship, but in Bible times it was a Greek word for a general place of gathering, not for Jews necessarily, and not necessarily for worship. The word literally means "place of gathering" in Greek. In those days and for many centuries, most people could not read, and did not have access to books even if they could. All books were handwritten. So the people had to gather in "synagogues" to hear the reading. Today most of us can read, and most of us can obtain a Bible to read, although some of us have to depend on going to the home of someone who has a Bible and can read it aloud. Nearly everyone was in the latter position a mere couple of centuries ago.

The Book of Revelation was written to be read in congregation. We see a description of the congregational or liturgical reading of the Book of Revelation at the beginning of the book: (Rev 1:3)Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The purpose of the Book of Revelation is to prepare people for the things that are "at hand". It is to be read in addition to the Old Testament. The major form of congregational worship was the reading of these Scriptures. We can see, by comparing the Book of Revelation with the mass, that they have the same structure, and that the Book of Revelation is the "mass" of the early church. Both are structured around the quotation of Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy,...". Both are presented as a coming before the throne of God, where hymns and prayers are sung. Both culminate in the supper of the Lamb.

Already at the time of writing, there were competing liturgies, or the temptation to change the liturgy of the Book of Revelation. If there had not been, there would not have been a need for the warning: (Rev 22:18)For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (Rev 22:19)And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

Fallen Christianity has done exactly that. Proof can be seen in two more facts. The congregational reading of the Book of Revelation is actually forbidden in Othodox tradition. It has been replaced by the "improved" liturgies of Sts John Chrysostom and Basil. The Roman mass is even further from the original. This last point in regard to being written in the book of life forbids participation in those fallen churches that have replaced the Book of Revelation with the mass.

Given that we do not live in a situation where it is necessary to come together to hear the word read, since we can each one take the book and read it for ourselves, it may well be that we do not need to engage in the liturgical reading of the Book of Revelation every Sabbath day. But we must reject the mass and have a faith that is focused and founded on the Book of Revelation.

The Book of Revelation is the only portion of Scripture that defines, point by point, the content of the everlasting Gospel. (Rev 14:6)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, (Rev 14:7)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 fountains of waters.

The Book of Revelation is the only portion of Scripture that bears witness to the fact that the ten commandments remain the eternal law of God written on tables of stone and found in the great original ark of God in the heavenly sanctuary. (Rev 11:19)And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

The Book of Revelation is the only portion of Scripture that specifically defines the saints as those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. (Rev 14:12). The faith of Jesus at this point in history is to look to him who is making atonement and blotting out sin in the heavenly sanctuary at this moment, and who is shortly to come on the clouds of glory.

In Summary

The coming of Jesus will be a literal, visible, audible, cataclysmic event that will stop the world in its tracks. The dead in Christ will be resurrected and join the living saints who will be changed into immortality in a moment and caught up to meet Christ in the air. The wicked will be killed by the brightness of his coming. While Satan is bound to a desolate earth, the saints will live and reign with Christ in heaven for a thousand years.

At the end of the thousand years the city of God will descend from heaven to the earth, the wicked will be raised to receive their sentencing and punishment in the lake of fire. Sin, death, hell, and Satan will come to an end in the lake of fire. Those written in the book of life will be protected in the city through that awful time, and live in glory throughout the coming ages.

Those written in the book of life are those who are overcomers in Christ, who do not worship the beast (the Papacy), who do not wonder after the beast, who do not defile, work abomination, make lies, and who adhere to the Book of Revelation as it is written.