Dear Mike,
I have read and listened to your teaching on the is, was and will be mentioned in Revelation. I believe I see this truth, and it has given a lot of understanding to me. The trouble is, there seems to be a disconnect somewhere. If the events in revelation are THE Revelation of Christ, and ALWAYS is, was and will be, why is it still as though some of these events are future? The lake of Fire for example IS it, WAS? It seems to me that you place the Lake of Fire only as a future event, as with other things like the millenial reign, etc. How can there things be only in the future if they are also is and was? It still seems like there is a point in Revelation that pertains to future only.
Sincerely,
T____

Hi T____,

Thank you for your question. You say you are beginning to see and understand a lot. That is good, but unless you can see the Truth of Christ’s repeated assertion that both He and His Word are “Is, Was and Will Be” you will not see Him in His fullness. There is no part of His Word to which this Truth does not apply. Either it is true of it all, or else it is not true of any of God’s Word.
I too, struggled with what you are now struggling. Immediately after coming to see why Christ so often repeated this ‘Is, Was and Will Be’ quality of Himself and His Word, I could not see how this principle applied to either the lake of fire or to the seven last plagues. We are specifically told that the seven last plagues “fill up the wrath of God.” When these plagues are over, there will be no more “wrath of God.”

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

According to Rev 11, these plagues, which are the seventh trumpet, do not even begin to be poured out until after the first resurrection:

Rev 11:12 And they [ the two witnesses- God’s elect- this is the first resurrection] heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe [ the seventh trumpet- the seven last plagues] cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The seventh angel is the seven last plagues. The seven last plagues are not even poured out until after the first resurrection takes place. This has to be the case because God’s elect are told that they will judge this world:

1Co 6:2 Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

The seven last plagues are the ‘judgment of this world.’ The seven last plagues are poured out on this world by the resurrected elect of God. How then can this be a present truth for God’s elect? How can we suffer God’s wrath if we are not appointed to wrath and the seven last plagues fill up the wrath of God? How too, can the lake of fire, which does not even exist until after the millennium, be a present truth for those who are now in Christ? Here is how that is accomplished:
1) The judgments of the seven last plagues ‘Is’ now in God’s elect:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

This thing called ‘judgment’ “must first begin at the house of God”

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

What will be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? They will suffer the seven last plagues and they will “be hurt of the second death,” which is the lake of fire. Do God’s elect also experience this fire?
2) The lake of fire in God’s elect now:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

No, this experience of judgment being “now on the house of God” is not scripturally expressed as ‘the lake of fire.’ 1Co 3:13-15 speaks of “every man’s work will be made manifest… by fire.” “Every man” would include both those in the lake of fire and God’s elect. No one gets to the ‘Tree of Life’ without going through that “fiery sword.” It is all the same fire. That fire is God and His Christ:

Heb 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Put this verse together with:

1Jn 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

What this shows is that the love and consuming fire are one and the same thing in God. What God is doing now in His elect is the same thing He will do later in the multitudes of Christians who He has labeled in His Word the “many called but not chosen.”

Mat 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

Are these ‘chosen few’ not judged? Yes, they certainly are. Do these chosen few endure God’s fiery trials? Yes, they do:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

Then just five verses later we have the verse we quoted above:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

I hope you can now see that even though the semantics are different, and though it is important that we “keep a pattern of sound words,” still the fire of the lake of fire is the same fire that gives us our “fiery trials.” So then the ‘Is, Was and Will Be’ character of God’s Word is preserved throughout his Word.
Mike