Jose A. Rivera, Jr. and Migda Luz Rivera
Revelation Volumes 1 & 2
An Admonition to the Church to be Ready, Watching and Doing
As we see prophecy unfolding before our eyes, a sense of urgency has developed within us to know more definitely what The Revelation in the Scriptures, as given to the apostle John, teaches. The three most prevalent schools of thought – pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation and post-tribulation raptures – we believe to be incorrect, and these teachings have not been convincingly proven by Scripture, in our opinion. This study is not a verse-by-verse breakdown, but rather a more topical breakdown. Our aim in writing this writing is to answer four basic questions:
- How do the seven seals unfold?
- What is the timeline of events as they are to unfold within the tribulation period?
- When within this timeline of events is the rapture to occur?
- What is the significance of the end-time parables in Matthew 24 and 25?
We strongly admonish you, the reader, to have your Bible open and read each chapter and section in The Revelation along with this commentary. We urge you to read each of the supporting scripture verses as well, in order to grasp fully what we are presenting and, thereby, draw your own conclusions.
Seven Feasts of the Lord
GOD’S PROPHETIC, SEVEN-FOLD PLAN OF REDEMPTION
We sincerely hope that through our presentation of this study, we convince those who believe that the Old Testament is mostly irrelevant to the Body of Christ that exactly the reverse is so! All that we can know and understand about God, as well as all of His desires concerning mankind, are found in both the Old and New Testaments. We cannot understand the deep truths of the New Testament without having a solid grasp on those in the Old Testament. We cannot understand the New Testament unless we understand the shadows that are embedded in the Old Testament, which have been, or will be, brought to fruition, or fulfillment, under the New. The Old Testament contains God’s seven-fold prophetic plan of redemption for man in a concealed manner (symbols, types, and shadows) while the New Testament reveals the fulfillment of the first phase of that seven-fold plan fulfilled at Christ’s first coming (the Spring Feasts), as well as the revelation of the upcoming fulfillment of the Fall Feasts, at Christ’s second coming, at the end of the age. God has painstakingly given inspiration to His Word and has caused it to be written down precisely as He desired, so His people would have a “roadmap” to follow and to live their lives by, so we would not be taken by surprise when the “birth pangs” that Christ predicted would take place just before His second coming intensify (see Matthew 24:4–35).
Who Holds Back the Antichrist?
UNDERSTANDING THE TIME OF THE RAPTURE
“Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him, we ask you, brothers, not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter, supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s Temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
“Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of His mouth and destroy by the splendor of His coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, NIV
About the authors
As of this date, I am only beginning to mourn and grieve the loss of my BELOVED WIFE of thirty-five years. She went to her reward on March 6, 2018. I cannot begin to say what a gift of our Father YEHOVAH she was to me. She was a truly unique woman of the LORD. Gifted as a TEACHER, SOLOIST,
MOTHER, and COUNSELOR to younger wives, as well as WIFE and MOTHER in our home. On top of all these gifts, she wrote, edited, and inspired this work. This teaching would not exist if she had not been my wife and most of all my spiritual partner.
THIS WORK is dedicated to our LORD YEHOVAH, FATHER GOD. He commanded me to write this commentary but without the gifts and talents instilled in my wife, her powerful spiritual knowledge, and cooperative and loving relationship with me, could NEVER have come into existence.
FATHER God knew exactly what He was doing when He brought us together on June 2, 1984. Truly FATHER God does all things well. All glory, honor, praise be HIS Name FOREVER and EVER.
Bye, my love, you belong to our FATHER and His SON. I pray to see you soon in the Heavenly Realms, where we spent so much time before His throne and in HIS WORD.
AMEN and AMEN!
Jose A. Rivera, Jr.