O that Ishmael might live before thee!"

PRAYER - "Abraham Fell On His Face And Laughed At God"

God changed Sarai's name to Sarah and told Abraham, "I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her." But Abraham fell on his face and laughed. He was 100! She was 90! Abraham, "Father of the Faithful," was overcome with doubt for the moment, even laughing in God's face. Our carnal minds cannot comprehend God's supernatural abilities. Mercifully, God gives us faith to believe. 

Genesis 17:17-18 - "Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? ...O that Ishmael might live before thee!"

PRINCIPAL - "The Jasper Walls Of New Jerusalem"

New Jerusalem will have a great, high JASPER (white-veined light-brown stone) WALL built on twelve foundations of precious stones. It does not appear to have twelve floors, but one floor on a twelve-layered foundation (each named after the twelve Apostles). On east, north, south, and west will be three gates named after the twelve Tribes of Israel. The entire cubicle appears to be enclosed in golden glass, trimmed with the Jasper Wall at its base.

Revelation 21:18 - "The building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass."

PRINCIPLE - "Foundations Garnished With Precious Stones"

An angel measured the wall of New Jerusalem at 144 cubits. (12x12 maintains the symbolism of 12 Tribes and 12 Apostles). A cubit is variously held to be 18-25 inches. So the wall is only about 250-300 feet high around the City that is 1500 MILES high. That barely amounts to a nice trim, but it serves its purpose and contains the entrance gates. The wall sits on a base of twelve foundations garnished in twelve precious stones named after the Apostles. 

Revelation 21:19 - "The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones."

PROPHECY - "Names On The Gates And Foundations"

Abraham traversed the land of Canaan, but eventually realized that God has something else in mind. "For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," Hebrews 11:10. The CITY was not yet built. The Gospel had to be preached by the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb - forming its foundation. The Gospel opened the GATES to the Twelve Tribes of Israel, followed by "whosoever will."

Revelation 21:12,14 - "Twelve GATES, ...and names written ...of the twelve TRIBES of the children of Israel: ...twelve FOUNDATIONS, and in them the names of the twelve APOSTLES of the Lamb."

Path of joy Clickhere

Messiah Psams 68:4 clickhere

Another OMBS BibleStudy

I believe that the Apostle John may be the most powerful, influential and pivotal writer of all time.

Yes. I believe that.

Anyone who reads the entire New Testament cannot deny the overwhelming influence of the Apostle Paul and his so-called "Pauline Epistles." After all, Paul did write the very largest portion of the entire New Testament, and I do not discount his writings by one iota.

But John wrote the Gospel according to John, the First, Second and Third Epistles of John, AND the Book of the Revelation. Those are five very amazing books. But they are not just five books.

John's Gospel is profoundly different in style and content from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, or Luke, and contains some of the most doctrinally-intense writings anywhere in the Bible. John narrated the life of Jesus Christ in a way that was quite unique from that of Matthew, Mark and Luke. His insights are crucial to every man's understanding of Christ.

John's three small epistles contain what is essentially the definitive treatise on the nature and identity of the spirit of antichrist. As such, John deals head-on with things that are almost never mentioned anywhere else in the Bible.

And there is no book anywhere else in the world that can compare to John's Book of Revelation. Although the Book of Genesis is one of the largest and most informative books of the Bible, the Book of Revelation contains almost three times as much proprietary information as just about any book in sacred canon.


Jews don’t believe in Jesus, right? Or go they?

NO OTHER BOOK more clearly reveals the divine destiny of mankind. That is very significant.

It is important to remember that John was one of the three closest confidants of Jesus Christ. Peter, James and John were the most intimate of all Jesus' apostles or disciples. It was John who leaned on Jesus' breast at the Last Supper, and John who apparently followed the LORD all the way from Gethsemane to Golgotha.

John, I believe, knew and understood who Jesus Christ was better than any man who ever lived. I believe that John was more deeply affected in his heart and mind by the true identity and mission of Jesus Christ than any person on record. He knew and believed profoundly that Jesus was God our invisible Creator wearing a human body.

John, a fisherman by trade, was originally a disciple of John the Baptist, so he had an amazing primary initiation into the significance of the Gospel of the Kingdom.

Then John began to follow Christ. For three years, John had the very closest access to Jesus. He walked beside him daily, heard virtually everything Jesus ever said, and saw virtually everything He did during His adult ministry. They called him, "John, the Beloved." No man had more intimate fellowship with Christ than John.

John is the one who explained to us, perhaps better than anyone else, that Jesus Christ is the Word made flesh, and that Jesus is actually God. "The world was made by Him," John insisted. Do not underestimate that statement!

That was a radical declaration. Almost nobody in Jesus' day realized Who He was better than John.

John taught us that anybody who denies that God is incarnated in Jesus is an "antichrist." John understood the incarnation better than anybody before him.John saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration conversing with Moses and Elijah. John witnessed first-hand Jesus riding through Jerusalem, as people cheered Him as the King of Israel. John watched in 
horror as Jesus was dragged from Gethsemane, prosecuted and sentenced to death. John watched Jesus die on Golgotha. John saw Jesus after He rose from the dead and watched the clouds carry Him into Heaven. John was in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, and received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and spoke in unknown tongues.

John preached for many years and was heavily persecuted for his preaching. He was boiled in oil but did not die. He was exiled to the Isle of Patmos and left there to die.

On Patmos, John had visions of Christ and His angels, and revelations of things to come - of the end of the age and of the Eternal Things of God. John saw Christ on the Throne of God. John saw visions of Jesus coming with His Heavenly Army of Saints to wage the great and final Battle of Armageddon.

Finally, John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of a New Heaven, descending to a New Earth after the old heaven and earth had passed away.

Without John, we would scarcely know Christ. With John's writings alone, we could know more about Jesus Christ than from any other solitary writer in history.

But John was also an ICONIC PROPHET. Almost nobody in the Bible (excepting perhaps Daniel, Ezekiel and Isaiah), had such a significant understanding about God's plan for the future. John saw more of the future plan of God than any man who ever lived.

John recorded more proprietary prophecies for the Last Days, including:

• The Seven Churches
• The Seven Spirits of God
• The Throne of God
• The Four Heavenly Beasts
• The 24 Elders
• The City of Heaven
• 
  
• The Seven Golden Candlesticks
• The White Stones
• The Saints in White Raiment
• The Emerald Rainbow
• The Angelic Choir
• The Sea of Glass
• The Seven Seals
• The Four Horsemen
• The Four Winds
• The Heavenly Temple
• The Great Tribulation
• The Seven Trumpets
• The Little Book
• The Seven Thunders
• The Two Witnesses
• The Woman With Twelve Stars
• The Manchild
• The Great Red Dragon
• The Seven-Headed Beast from out of the Sea
• The False Prophet
• The Mark of the Beast
• The Image to the Beast
• The 144,000 Virgins Sealed by God
• Mystery Babylon
• The Harvest of the Earth
• The Harvest of Grapes of Wrath in the Winepress of God
• The Lake which burns with Fire and Brimstone
• 
  
• The Scarlet-Colored Beast
• The Great Whore
• The Harlot Daughters
• The Seven Vials of the Wrath of God (Seven Last Plagues)
• The Tabernacle of the Testimony
• The Battle of Armageddon
• The Fall of Babylon
• The Destruction of the Great Whore, The Mother of Harlots
• The First Resurrection and Rapture of the Church
• The Second Coming of Jesus Christ
• The Army of Heaven
• The Vesture Dipped In Blood
• The Sword of His Mouth
• The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
• The Millennial Kingdom of Christ
• The Beast and the False Prophet Cast Into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone
• The Supper of the Great God
• Satan's Doom
• The Second Resurrection
• The White Throne Judgment
• The Book of Life
• The Second Death
• Sinners Cast Into Hell
• The New Heaven
• The New Earth
• The Holy City, New Jerusalem
• 
  
• The Bride, The Lamb's Wife
• And many other landmark, watershed topics.

With all these insights in mind, I will make my conclusion.

This man, John, DAILY walked side-by-side with Jesus Christ for more than three years, heard everything He preached, and saw everything He did. John saw Jesus ascend into Heaven.

I am extremely impressed with the LEVEL OF CONVICTION that John had about Jesus Christ.

If Jesus had been an impostor (as many say He is), John would have known it. But John lived to be a very old man on the Isle of Patmos. He had every opportunity to renounce or abandon his faith in Christ.

But he NEVER did!

JOHN PROFOUNDLY BELIEVED that the man he had been a close friend to when he was a young man was TRULY GOD INCARNATE.

John believed that Jesus would come back to earth, and at Armageddon, destroy all the enemies of Israel and set up a glorious 1000-year Kingdom on earth. John also believed that all the demonic antichrist spirits on earth would be brought to judgment, and that every sinner would be cast into Hell.

John believed that the present heavens and earth will someday pass away, and that Jesus Christ will create a New Heaven and New Earth. John believed that there will be a New Jerusalem where all the saints of all the ages will live with Christ forever.

I am impressed by the integrity and believability of John's testimony. There are no words to adequately depict John's heart-felt belief that Jesus was really GOD on earth.

If John believed that Jesus is God, and that He is coming back, then I do too. I do not believe that there is a MORE CREDIBLE WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST ANYWHERE than John.

I cannot describe how excited I am about Jesus' soon return.