Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #18 of Revelation, chapter 22 and we are going to read Revelation 22:14-15:
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
I will stop reading there. We have discussed both of these verses, but there is something else I wanted to look at, in particular, and that is the fact that verse 14 is telling us about those that have entered in and verse 15 is describing those that are without. That goes along perfectly with the statement the Lord made in Revelation 22:11:
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
The righteous and the holy have entered in and the unjust and the filthy are without. These are the two conditions of mankind and those conditions are fixed and established for this period of Judgment Day, the prolonged period of time that will very likely last 1,600 days.
Let us just look at what the Bible says about “entering in.” In John, chapter 10 the Lord Jesus pictures Himself as a door and it says in John 10:7-9:
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
Here, Christ defines what it means to have entered into the city. It means you have been saved. Of course, those that are now without the city and have not entered in are not saved. That is really the simple picture. All of God’s elect have entered into the city and they have become saved and the rest of mankind (the unsaved) are “without” and they are described as “dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Notice that there are six sins that describe the unsaved and “six” is the number of “work.” These are people that did not enter into the city through the faith of Christ, but they sought acceptance with God on the basis of their own works. However, no man is justified by the works of the law and, therefore, they remain “without the city.”
When we read of the flood account in Genesis, chapter 7 and Noah and his family entering into the ark, it is a picture of salvation. It says in Genesis 7:16:
And they that went in, went in male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him: and JEHOVAH shut him in.
Noah and his family (and even the animals) are a picture of salvation as they enter the ark. The ark is the kingdom of heaven and it is an illustration of the Lord Jesus. They went into the ark through the door (Christ) and once they were safely inside, God shut the door. With that action, God separated mankind. Those that entered in will live and be delivered and this represents the elect. Those without the ark will not live. They would die in due course as the flood rose and they picture the unsaved people of the earth.
Exactly 7,000 years later on the equivalent day (May 21, 2011) with the same underlying calendar date of “the seventeenth day of the second month,” God shut the door to heaven on the final day of the Great Tribulation. Is that a coincidence that May 21, 2011 was the last day of the Great Tribulation of exactly 23 years or 8,400 days and it also had the underlying Hebrew calendar date of when God shut the door of the ark? In so doing, He protected His people. They would live, but He sealed the fate of the rest of the world. They would die. No, it is not a coincidence. God spiritually brought judgment on the world on May 21, 2011 and He shut the door of heaven and He had arranged the calendars to lock in that truth.
In the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, God came in the form of two angels to visit Lot in Sodom and Lot fled the city with his wife and two daughters. Then we read in Genesis 19:23-24:
The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. Then JEHOVAH rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from JEHOVAH out of heaven;
Zoar was a little city and it pictured the city of God. It represents salvation and God could do nothing until “righteous Lot,” who represented all the elect, had entered into the city Zoar. Once he was inside the city, then God rained down the judgment of fire and brimstone. God would be longsuffering and patient in His dealings with mankind until all the elect were safely into the city through salvation. When the last one came in, at the very next instant Christ came quickly in judgment.
In the parable of the 10 virgins, God illustrates the same fact and it says in Matthew 25:10:
And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
It is just like Noah and his family and the animals went into the ark and just like Lot went into Zoar. Likewise, the wise virgins went into the “marriage” or the “wedding” and the Bible views Judgment Day as a wedding ceremony. At the completion of the wedding feast, you will see in Revelation 19 that the wicked are sacrificed at the wedding feast, but Christ is with His bride at the “marriage supper of the Lamb.” At the completion of Judgment Day, the wedding feast has ended and the marriage will be consummated with God’s people going to be with the Lord in the new heaven and new earth.
But, here in Matthew 25, those that were ready went in with Him to the marriage and the door was shut. Then it says in Matthew 25:11:
Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
These remain “without.” Once God’s people have entered in, the door is shut. When the last of the elect has crossed the threshold of the door and enters in, God shuts the door and leaves the rest “without” and that is what happened on May 21, 2011. God shut the door and His people were safely in the holy city of Jerusalem. They had become part of that city through salvation, but the unsaved people of the earth will remain “without.”
If we look at the word “without,” it is Strong’s #1854 in the New Testament Greek. It is used in a passage in Matthew 13:47-50:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
In Luke, chapter 13, Jesus is answering the question: “Are there few that be saved?” He said unto them, in Luke 13:24:
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.
Consider what we just learned in the Bible. What does it mean to “enter in,” according to John, chapter 10? Let me read it again, in John 10:9:
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved…
Again, it says in Luke 13:24, “For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in.” They will seek to be saved, but then it says in the next part of this verse: “and shall not be able.” They will not be able to become saved. In fact, they will never become saved at this point, despite their seeking to be saved. Why? It is explained in Luke 13:25:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door…
And when did God shut the door in Noah’s day? It was only after Noah and his whole family (eight souls) and the animals had entered in. These were all that God drew into the ark and they represent all the saved and then the door was shut. God did not shut the door after Noah and his wife entered in and left his sons and their wives outside the ark. God kept the door open to the ark and it was not until all of these had crossed the threshold of the door of the ark that God shut them in.
Likewise, Lot entered into Zoar before God rained down fire and brimstone. God waited carefully until Lot’s foot crossed the boundary into the city Zoar before the fire and brimstone began to fall from heaven.
So when God says in Luke 13, “For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in,” He means they will seek salvation and not be able to obtain salvation. Then He tells us when this will happen: “When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door.” When would God do this? It would be at the time of Judgment Day, at the end of His salvation program when He has completed the salvation of His elect. He has found everyone He intended to save and that is when God shut the door. He does not shut the door when there are still others that He desired to bring into the door. Just think about the ark; God did not shut the door upon anyone He intended to save. The ark was first filled with all the people God wanted on board. It was very few, but they were the ones – only eight people. Then God shut the door.
It goes on to say in Luke 13:25:
When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without…
Notice the phrase, “begin to stand without,” because we have learned that judgment began on May 21, 2011 (over four years ago) and that is when the unsaved “began” to stand without and they will continue to stand without for four years, four months and 16 days (“4 x 4”) until October 7, 2015, which is a Wednesday, the fourth day of the week. It will be the 10,000th day of overall judgment, which is “10 to the 4th power,” and the number “four” points to the furthest extent of how far God’s judgment will proceed and no further. In all likelihood, it is the furthest point, the completion of God’s judgment on the world. And all this time, the unsaved will have stood “without” the door, because the door was shut on them by God at the beginning of the Day of Judgment on May 21, 2011. Yet, they continue to knock at the door. Notice it goes on to say in Luke 13:25:
…and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
There is activity going on and it represents spiritual activity of people seeking to become saved or insisting that salvation is continuing; and there has been a great deal of this kind of discussion among many people who reject the teaching: “God would not shut the door and leave people “without” while time is still continuing.” Well, God says He did it in Luke 13 and He did so in Noah’s day when He shut the door of the ark – there was an entire world of people “without” and only a few souls within the ark. There were men, women and children that were left without. There were teen aged children and there were seven, eight and nine-year-old children and there were little babies. In a world with perhaps 2 million people, there would have been a good number of women that had children in the womb or that had recently conceived. God is the one that grants conception. So there were children in the womb, but God still shut the door of the ark. Can you imagine what people today would say about that? “You cannot do that. What about the babies? They do not have a chance. They will not have an opportunity to get into that ark. It is unfair, God.”
But God’s salvation program was designed exclusively for the elect and not for the rest of mankind. The rest of mankind are sinners without a Saviour. They have sinned against God and God’s punishment for sin is death. And if God brings death upon an old person or upon a young person or a child conceived in sin and born speaking lies, God is just in doing so and no one can charge Him with injustice or a failure to do what is right.
God has already saved a people for Himself and He is under no obligation to save anyone but those whom He determined to save. He could have saved no one at all, if He had so decreed and He would have been just in destroying the entire human race, but He did choose certain ones. The sending forth of the Gospel had always been for their sakes, in order to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel. The command to go into all the world and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost was a command to find the “nations of them which are saved.” It was never a command to go into the world and bring the Gospel to those that are not elect. God is not obligated toward anyone that is unsaved if they were not one of the sheep. Salvation was always directed toward the ones He had elected and predestinated. When these had become saved, then the door shut and it does not matter who is “without” or how long they are “without.” The fact is that all that were to be brought in have come in and the rest are “without,” according to the perfect will of God.
Let us also look here in Luke 13 in the same passage, where it says in Luke 13:27:
But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
“All the prophets” represent all of God’s elect, spiritually. Remember, this is the Bible and when it says, “when ye shall see,” it is referring to spiritual sight or spiritual hearing from the Word of God, the Bible. When you see that all the elect (typified by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) are “in the kingdom of God,” it means they have entered into the city. Then it says, “and you yourselves thrust out.” And the word “out” is the same word as our word “without” in Revelation 22. When you “see” this or when you “hear” this it is speaking from the perspective of the unsaved. They do not have to understand it or agree with it, but they are hearing it and they have been hearing it since the time before May 21, 2011. The whole word heard that it would be the day the door shut. And after May 21, 2011, when all the world’s media was focused on Mr. Camping, they were asking him, “What do you have to say for yourself?” What did he tell them in that period after May 21, 2011? He told them that God did bring (spiritual) judgment and there was no more salvation. That is what Mr. Camping taught for a couple of weeks after May 21, 2011 and up and until his stroke. God even permitted me to go on Family Radio airwaves to teach the Bible study for a few months up until October 21, 2011. What were those Bible studies teaching? They were teaching “no more salvation.” It was teaching that the door was shut and God was no longer saving people. So the people of the world heard it and over the last few years they are hearing it via EBible Fellowship, as God has been expanding our reach in many different ways. We are now reaching millions of people with the teaching that the door is shut and there is no more salvation and that the likely conclusion of the Day of Judgment is October 7, 2015. God is giving us a greater and greater ability to reach people, so the world has “seen” Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, because that is what is being taught. God saved all the elect and then He shut the door and “you yourselves thrust out,” as God is speaking to the unsaved.
It is the opposite of what God says in Psalm 37, where He is speaking to the elect. It says in Psalm 37:34:
Wait on JEHOVAH, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.
What does it mean to be “cut off”? A good illustration is the ark, once again. When God shut the door to the ark, He “cut off” entry to the ark. He “cut off” any possible hope of deliverance or of living for the rest of the people of the world. They were “without” and that is exactly what God did spiritually on May 21, 2011 when He shut the door to heaven. All that had entered in are saved because Christ is the “door,” but when God shut the door, He “cut off” every unsaved individual in the world. Now they are “without” the door and they are “without” the kingdom, “without” the city and without hope. There is no more salvation because one has to enter in to become saved, but now they cannot enter in. They are unable to do so and there is no ability for unsaved man to cross the threshold into the kingdom of heaven and have eternal life.
God says, “when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.” Just as the wicked see the elect in the kingdom, the true children of God see the unsaved without the kingdom. As it was with Lazarus and the rich man, it says of the rich man in Luke 16:23:
And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
The beggar Lazarus represents all the prophets, the elect, and the rich man saw all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven and he himself thrust out.