Follow Him: A Come, Follow Me Podcast - Revelation 15-22 • Part 2 • Dr. Richard D. Draper • Dec 25 - Dec 31

Episode Date: December 20, 2023

Dr. Richard Draper further examines the significance of Jesus Christ as the “bright and morning star.” He explores the reasons behind His invitation to experience peace and rest, especially in times of turmoil.

Welcome to Part 2 with Dr. Richard Draper, Revelation 15-22. Alright, moving on into 19. At this point, the long excursus that began in Chapter 11 ends, and the story picks up where 1115 left off. Let's go back to Chapter 1115 and let me show you how this works. It says, and the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever, and then verse 1 of chapter 19. And after these things, I heard a great voice of much people in heaven saying, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and honor and power

unto our Lord God for true and righteous are His judgments for He has judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth of the book of communication and have avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. We could have just skipped all of that in the part and got right to hear, and really shortened Revelation a lot, but I'm glad that middle parts there, because it steps back and said, now let me explain to you why the horrors of chapters 8 and 9 and wars that

are there are going to happen. And so we have this wonderful excursus then that now ends, and we move forward in chapter 19. One through eight is the heavenly host, Scamry, joicing a marriage of the Lamb with the bride at last. Let me ask you a question. Would I be correct in the book of Revelation? I've almost got a creation, chapters four and five, a fall that we've just been through. And now I'm getting to the end of the story, the Atonement, Creation fall.

Yes, that's very good. In fact, chapters eight, nine, and 15 and 16 are actually de-creation. So those are the de-creation chapters. Now we're going to get into the recreation chapters. I really like what you said there, Hank. I think that's very insightful. Now we get into the good stuff. The Lord has avenged his saints and things are moving forward. So at 9 and 10, the angels' instructions for John to write, to let everybody know that, oh, if you're invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb,

you are really good. Things are absolutely wonderful. The power of this verse, though, is in verse eight, where it says, and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, where the fine linen is the righteousness of the saint. So white linen, notice that it's the linen, that's the righteousness of the saint. So white linen, notice that it's the linen, that's the righteousness

of the saints. Well, that's the case, what's the white? And the white is victory. The saints have now overcome. And therefore, they are dressed in righteousness. And that righteousness is highlighted by the fact that now they are victors. They have come through everything that's there. Let me read this. The wording in verse 8 is telling to her has been granted to be clothed in splendid pure linen. That's my translation, by the way. The thrust of the verb etothée means to give, conveys the impression of an impartation, a bestol or an endowment. The act of agent is God, he is the bestor of the garment. All righteousness centers in him. Even man's righteous deeds result from God's goodness in that the spirit and light within man, as well as all law come from God.

You're looking at DNC 88-11-13. As Joseph McConkey and Robert Millard have pointed out in their book, Dr. commentary on the Book of Mormon, and I'm quoting them in the strictest sense, no one can work out is for her own salvation. No person can create himself or herself, resurrect himself or herself, ransom himself or herself or cleanse their own heart from the tapes of the world. These are the actions of a God of an infinite being. We can seek and ask competition and suffocate. We can apply His blood, take His name, accept His

enabling power and acquire His nature, but we cannot save ourselves. The saints of God seek above all things to be for the sanctifying powers of the Spirit in their lives. Through this process they have their beings changed. And by means of that spirit, they are motivated to righteous works, the works of God. In that sense, Christ has begun to live in them. This Paul implored, wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not in my presence only. But now much more, in my absence, work at your own salvation with fear and trembling. And then note the Apostle's words, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do his good pleasure. Philippians 2, 12 and 13. That was more of a sin by these two great brethren. The point is, all salvation is in the Lord, it's his grace and his strength. That gives us the power

to be able to do. I would like to stress a point. Remember that they give me grace and power to do what I want to do, when what I want to do is what they would have me do. Therefore, it doesn't violate agency. It in fact enhances my agency because I want to do what they would have me do. A verse 11 through 15, the triumphant warrior comes with powers and titles. The one point that it really makes here, verse 11, and I saw they haven't's open to behold the white horse, and he that sat upon him is called faithful and true, and in righteous, that the judge make work. Now, notice

how continually the book of Revelation stresses. Yes, things are horrible. Yes, people are really going to get it in the neck. But remember that what happened is just and true and right. God gave them every possible means. He coaxed, he could jolt, he promised good things, he threatened bad things, he did everything in his power to get them to come follow him. And they just simply wouldn't. And not only that, they become nasty and mean. And therefore he moved against them. Verses 11 through 12, the coming of a great warrior then. Notice that his offensive weapon is the sword. And according to the Joseph Smith translation,

the sword is the word of God that will humble the nations. When Jesus comes, there really isn't a fight. When he comes, the fighting stops. It's not that he comes and joins in the fighting. He comes and the fighting stops. It is over, I think, of Alma, the under, meeting the angel. Boy, he in the sons of Raya out really, cousin havoc with the church, and then here comes the angel, and he speaks in the ground trebles. Well, Jesus is going to speak to the rebellious and let me tell you, it's going to be a hundred times more than one alma experience on that occasions. A 16-21, the warrior vanquishes all his enemies. It does not hit us as it would John's readers,

It does not hit us as it would John's readers, the end result of the enemies when they become carry on for birds and for wild beasts. In that society, whether it's Greek or Jewish, to be unburied was absolutely the worst enigma that could fall to a person. And these are not only un on buried, they become food for cultures, for the wild beasts and so on. The horror for these people is unimaginable, but they have proved themselves to be worthy of nothing less than ignomy. And therefore, they will suffer. It is at this point where the beast and the false

prophet are at last cast in the fire that is to say the false beast and the false theories now are approving themselves faithless and therefore they have no more power. And that pre-lobrings 19 to an end. I looked at chapter 19 and we talked about this marriage for the Lamb and his wife. Isn't John, and I think he's done this throughout the book, is using Old Testament language, Old Testament symbols throughout the whole book. And this is something that John, we got a lot of in our Old Testament ear, was the Savior being the groom and the church or his people being the wife or Zion being the wife and The Lord is coming to his people. So we talk about this marriage if John's readers. I'm assuming they're versed in the old Testament. Is there anything else they would see that perhaps we don't see because we're not as versed? I would say maybe not the reason is that as Latter-day Saints,

marriage means an awful lot to us. And marriage was very, very important to the Jewish people. It was the foundation of their society. And being the foundation of their society meant that the nation moved according to the power of the families. If we were to talk from the standpoint of the world in which you and I live, yeah let me tell you there's a lot of meaning and power here, but as Saturday Saints we understand the importance of family and what families all about

and what marriage is really all about. I remember Isaiah using this symbol. I think it's Isaiah 54 that there's this woman that the Savior is calling about. I remember Isaiah using this symbol. I think it's Isaiah 54 that there's this woman that the Savior is calling to. I have a home for you. Come back to me. Yeah, exactly right. My son texted me the other day and said, wow, the Lord's coming down pretty hard on the daughter's of Zion here in 2 Nephi 13. Yeah, and the daughters of Zion are us because it's the church. And the walking and missing is they go in the round tires like the moon and the calls and the crisping pins and all that stuff he's mentioning are I'm trying to it. Babylon. Yeah, I'm trying to attract other lovers when I am engaged to Christ. And the

most hurtful metaphor imaginable would be to be engaged and have your spouse going after other lovers. So this metaphor is used here. I love the idea of the marriage supper of the Lamb, because I've noticed so many times that in the gospels to eat with someone was to accept them and affirm them and invite them to your table. And we're invited to the sacrament table in a way that lords every week come and eat with me,

even though we're men, the three of us, we're daughters of Zion because Christ is the groom. Did I say that right? Beautifully done, very beautifully done. Alrighty. So chapter 20, follows in chronological sequence. The verses, that is to say what happens in 19, in chapter 20, the dragon, the old serpent, the devil of Satan is bound for a thousand years. So now we move into the millennial period. It is interesting to know that at this point, the binding of Satan is not punitive, but precautionary because we're going to find out

in just a few verses later. He's coming back. He's really going to do what he can to be able to destroy the Lord because he's got one more shot at it. Verses four through six then are the first resurrection. Those who will come forward, the result of the reward, they will receive, but also a note of those who are not going to come forward in the result of the reward. They will receive, but also a note of those who are not going to come forward in the first resurrection. They're going to have to stand back for a while.

A seven through ten are the Battle of Armageddon, the Great Last Battle, the Finally Demolishes, the Lord's Enemies. Again, I'd like to bring anapocalyptic view of this event. This is from the doctrine, Covenants, 88, 112 through 115. Michael, the seventh angel, even the archangel, shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of heaven. And the devil shall gather together his armies, even the hosts of hell, and shall come up to battle against Michael and his armies, and then come with the battle of the great God and the devil and his armies shall be cast away into their

own place, that they shall not have power over the saints anymore at all. For Michael shall fight their battles, and shall overcome him, who seeketh the throne of him, who said, on the throne, even the Lamb. The Battle of Gog and Magog, the final standoff, and again, as with the second coming in Armageddon, Jesus doesn't come to fight. Jesus comes to put an end to the fighting. And so too, at the Battle of Gog and Magog, he doesn't come to fight. He comes to put an end to the fighting.

It's over once he says it is over. This is from Charles Erdman in his book on Revelation. It's called Revelation of John. He says, after the destruction of the beast and the false prophet, the seer's interest next centers upon the destruction of Satan. The great truth symbolized is clear and vital, it is this. It is not enough to overthrow the agents or the instruments of evil, that evil itself must be overthrown. It is not enough to cast the beast, that is the institutions, and the false prophets, that is the philosophy and theology,

into the lake of fire. The devil who has empowered them must share their doom. War cannot be ended by pacifism or militarism, not by treaties or by leagues, while hate and malice and lust for power rule in the hearts of men. A better social order cannot be secured by political revolution, but by love, unfained, and the rule it brings. Thus, the judgment of Satan must proceed the perfecting of God's kingdom. I think he just said it in a very magnificent way there. Love has got to prevail, and that's what Jesus does, as he brings that love to the floor. A special note is that when God determines that wickedness will end, it will end.

There will be no argument, no retort, no rebuttal, only the irresistible and overpowering explosion of divine fire, in which all corruption will be eternally consumed and evil forever incarcerated. Not a whisper of computation will overreach or penetrate through the massive and frozen walls of Gahana, where Satan and his angels were languished in eternal impotence. When Jesus comes, he puts a stop to it. I just like to emphasize, again, Jesus doesn't come to fight the war. He comes to stop the war. That's what he is really all about. Verses 11 through 15 and with the final judgment and its result or the righteous. I just have a personal connection through my dad's autobiography

in World War II with verse 13. I've seen different interpretations of this, but my dad saw a mass burial at sea in World War II, a hundred and twenty three wounded on the USS Saratoba. And he was a teenager, but he saw the chaplain say a prayer over these bodies that were in body bags, and then because they ran out in mattress bags, a five inch shell stuck in there for weight and saw these comrades being dumped overboard. Those unmarked graves all over, I imagine, the sea. He talked about the parents getting the telegrams at home.

And he even said, and he wasn't a member of the church, but he said, there was a tall LDS red-headed boy from Provo in that group. So that verse has always meant a lot to me that they'll come back. Yeah, death cannot hold them. Yeah, they're all coming back. That's beautiful. Chapter 21 looks at the future and the reward of those who have overcome. They will be rejoined with the Father and the Son. We have a new heaven and a new earth. What is interesting here in verse 1, I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth or passed away. And there was no more sea. Or John's readers, and even for the modern reader of Revelation, the sea is the abyss. Chaos, right? Yeah, that's Satan's home. He is the chaos monster. This is a home of Leviathan and Ray Ab,, all of the evil that they are able to produce, and it is gone.

It is absolutely gone forever, forever and ever. Then we have something marvelous in verses 5 through 7. This is the first time in the entire book of Revelation where God moves. In chapter 4 and 5, we saw God. We feel His power, His might, His majesty, but what's interesting in 4 and 5 we saw God, we felt his power, his might, his majesty, but what's interesting in 4 and 5, he doesn't even breathe. He is just this magnificent, powerful being who sits. It is the Lamb where all the focus is. All through the thing, it's been Christ that has been moving until we get chapter 21. And in these verses, God speaks. It is interesting to

me that he has exactly seven statements. I think you are run into the idea of seven with the other presenters. And this makes you are not overlooked. The significance that there are seven things that the Lord says of where He witnesses of Himself. The point made by this portion of the vision is important. It means that the separation between God and His children caused by the fall has now been totally overcome. No longer does Jesus need to act as the intermediary. With spiritual death done away in behalf of these people, the great Elohim and self can once more administer directly to these who are his children. I just love that. We're back, we're back fully. One of the things I would like to note is chapter 8 that speaks of those who are the hellbound. And it says, but the

fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable inverters and hormongers and sorcerers and adulterers, and all liars shall have their part in the lake of fire in Brinston, which is the second death. Now what I find interesting here is that the cavalcade of the hellbound are headed by the fearful and the unbelieving. It seems a little odd if you think about it, that they should be categorized with the abominable, with murderers, with horror mongers. So why is that the case? This is what I get out of it, okay? What is surprising is that those who lead the cavalcade of the hellbound or cowards and the unfaithful, though few would ever dismiss these vices as an important pure yet would place

them among such great sins. The reason this seer may have placed them before all others grows out of the context of the revelation itself. John saw the latter days in which Christ and the beast would vie for the souls of men. He understood that opposition to goodness and virtue would constantly increase. The result would put increasing pressure on people to abandon the ways of God. Under these excruciating conditions, courage and faithfulness would be supreme virtues. Cowardous and unfaithfulness would become great sins. That's the message I get out of that particular verse. Chapters 9 through 12, the angel opens the vision of the glory of the new Jerusalem. Chapter 15 through 27 are the description of the heavenly Jerusalem and its holiness.

Of that one I have written as follows. Though this section the vision continues in its highly symbolic style, here the need to do so may be more acute than at any other point in his work. This is because heaven so transcends anything we mortals can imagine that the only way to get us even close to that reality is through very powerful symbols. As Paul says, I have not seen our ear heard. Neither have it entered into the heart. That is the imagination of men, the things which God has prepared for those who love him. Through symbols, John is able to get us close as he can. John's readers in every age that they may live who persevere in righteousness and are able to resist all temptation, the vicissitudes that life can throw at them, qualify to enter the holy city that God has prepared for the faithful.

The one thing that sticks out to me in 21 is verse 22. There's no temple there. And I've heard it explained, what the reason is is because the whole thing is a temple, but unfortunately that doesn't get to the point. Yes, it is the abode of God. The temples is where we do the work for the dead, but we also do the work for the living. Temples are where families are sealed together, Temples are where families are sealed together. That it is where the family of Christ is sealed. So that Christ can then present his family to God

and we can be born again unto the Father. As it says in section 70, seconds, we will be born again and therefore there's no need for the temple because all the work has been done. It is over, it is through. It is wonderful. Anything on chapter 21. Thank you for that idea of I saw no temple therein because the work was done. Sometimes I feel like the Lord has just given us a task that seems so impossible. Go find the name of every person who's ever existed.

And one by one, take them through the temple and there's so many beautiful stories about how that work is being accomplished. When you said that, it reminded me of Joseph Smith's statement that appeared in the Wentworth letter. And if I have the story right, the Chicago Democrat asked for a description of the beliefs of the church and this Wentworth letter that I think was never published, it had the articles of faith in it, but it also had this statement,

which we've read before. Maybe it's good to read this on the last day of the year, huh? The standard of truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, columny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every climb, swept every country,

and sounded in every year. Till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say, the work is done. That reminded me of that verse, and also is just thrilling to me to think of what came next in the Wentworth Letter. Number one, we believe in God, the eternal Father, and in His Son, Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost. The articles of faith came after that, which is cool to me. I think this whole idea is that there's going to come a time when the work is done. There's going to come a time when the day of grace

is past and all of these things are going to happen. But eventually, the work will be done. This is prophecy. John, Richard, let's go back just briefly. Revelation 21-4 has some significance for anyone who is listening, who is in some form of suffering. It can be emotional or spiritual or physical suffering.

Back in October 2016, General Conference, can be emotional or spiritual or physical suffering. Back in October 2016, General Conference, member of the 70, Evan A. Smoots gave a talk called, God shall wipe away altiers. I want to share a story that he shared their heartbreaking story, but I think it's important to realize as Richard said earlier that we're not immune from the fall.

Let me read a portion of this talk. During a recent state conference assignment, I attended in the Philippines. My heart was broken. As I learned of the tragic experience of brother Daniel Apalato. Brother Apalato and his wife were baptized in 1974. They embraced the restored gospel and were sealed in the temple. They were blessed with five beautiful children. On July 7th, 1997, when brother Appalato was serving as stake president, a fire broke out

in their small home. Brother Appalato's oldest son, Michael, rescued his father, pulling him from the burning structure and then ran back into the house to rescue others. It was the last time Brother Appalato saw his son alive. Taken in the fire, where Brother Appalato's wife, Dominga, and each of their five children. The fact that Brother Appalato was living a life pleasing unto God when this enormous tragedy struck, did not prevent the tragedy, nor did it make him immune from the sorrow that followed but his faithfulness in keeping his covenants and exercising in faith in Christ gave him assurance in the promise that he would be reunited with his wife and children.

This hope became an anchor to his soul. During my visit brother opalato, now the stake patriarch introduced me to his new wife, Simonette, and to their sons. Truly, Jesus Christ can and will bind up the brokenhearted. The talk goes on and says, in sharing this story, I'm concerned that the enormity of this loss may cause others to think that their sorrows and sufferings are of little consequence. Don't compare. But seek to learn and apply the principles as you weigh through the furnace of your own

afflictions. Towards the end of his message, Elder Smoot says, we can take strength in knowing that all the heart experiences in this life are temporary. Even the darkest nights will turn into dawn for the faithful. When all is finished and we have endured all things with faith in Jesus Christ, we have the promise of Revelation 21-4. We have the promise that God shall wipe away all the tears from our eyes. To anyone who is listening, Richard and John, I think that message coming out of this wonderful book

can be more soothing than almost any other, that the Lord will wipe away the tears from your eyes. There shall be no more death, or sorrow, or crying, neither shall there be any more pain. I will make all things new." From my perspective, I am just impressed that the book of Revelation is very realistic. It's not pie in the sky. It looks at the end rather than at the middle. And for those of us who are living here in the middle, the messy middle, the admonition that we have to remain tough, and keeping our faith going no matter what else happens is the real key to success. And that as hard as it may seem right now, God will show that it's worth it. Yep. That verse gives that ultimate ending. What's the hymn? There's hope smiling brightly

before us. We know that deliverance is night. There's a someday all of this will be over and the image of God wiping away tears from our eyes. I mean, that's just so personal and intimate even that God will wipe them from our eyes. Wow. And maybe in that moment, like you said, Richard, then we'll say to be here, that was worth it. The end is worth the middle. Richard, John being true to how we began, we made it to the end. The last chapter of the new testament is Revelation chapter 22. Anybody who's been with us the entire time, thank you. What a treat to come to this last chapter and to have Dr. Dre walk us through. Absolutely. Chapter 22 then consists of the blessing of the righteous.

So we have seen the cursing of the wicked. Now we contrast that with the blessing of the righteous versus one through five constituted division, a description of the interior of the city, and the blessed state of the righteous as they dwell with God and the Messiah. Of note, here is that there is one throne, I want to stress that there is one throne, but it is occupied by two people. The source of power, people. The source of power, the source of life is God, but that through which that life flows is Jesus Christ, and therefore it shows the equality of the teamwork of the Father and the Son as both then sit on the throne and rule and reign in heaven. It is also interesting to me that water continually flows from underneath the throne, and flows down the river that is to say it flows down the streets of the eternal city. And again, the symbol of course, water is life and life from the Father and from the Son

and life from the Father and from the Son that moves through everything and gives everything their life. We have the image of the tree that yields the nations. There is no sickness, no poverty, no injustice, everything is perfectly full and complete. And in this imagery, John reveals three aspects of eternal life that I really like. The first is exemplified by the throne itself. That's its source, which is God in Christ. The second aspect becomes from the water, which ever flows, which is the quantity of eternal life, death will never have power again. And the third one is exemplified by the period of water, that is, its quality.

Such life is untainted, uncorrupted, and concentrated. The power in that symbolism is almost overwhelming, but what really pushes up. And that is the tree we learn from Nephai's vision and the water that we learn both represent the love of God and therefore continually flowing. Life and love from the Father and the Son.

Then I note this, the Hebrew word for love of, denotes love freely given, a love coming from what God is toward those who are His. This love is not irresistibly drawn from Him by virtuous people, but is freely given even to sinners. The Old Testament underscores the unworthiness of many of whom God loved, and as a means of highlighting the purity of the love that flows from him. The Consonancy of his love, therefore, depends on what he is rather than what we are. The very soul of love is care and concern for others, and that is what God is all about. This is my work and my glory, right? To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.

And that's a great place to kind of conclude, versus 6 through 15, or just reassurance of the truthfulness of the word. And then, don't you dare touch your mess with this word, or we're going to get you. So, in conclusion, I'd like to make four points. The first one is that Revelation highlights one of the important reasons for the second coming, which mentioned this already, but it comes out of chapter 11 verse 18, which notes that, as God and Christ move and become more operative, more obvious in history, that the nations are angry.

Isn't that interesting? As God really builds his hand, is not humility. It's angry, the statement from the Septuagint, the version of Psalms 9.1, and the Lord has begun to reign, and the people are enraged. And from Exodus 1514, the nations heard and were enraged. Isn't that interesting? As God reveals Himself, the response is anger of these people. As Christ begins to pick up the reign, the minions of Satan, therefore directed by Satan determined that if they cannot have the world, neither can Christ, and therefore they are going to destroy it. Therefore, the message of Revelation 11, Christ comes to destroy those who would destroy the world. Non-apocalyptic

response from 1st Nephi 22, 16 through 19. This should be very reassuring for saints. For the time soon come, that the fullness of the wrath of God shall be poured out upon all the children of man. For he will not suffer that the wicked shall destroy the righteous, wherefore he will preserve the righteous by his power even if it's so be that the fullness of his wrath must come, and the righteous be preserved even under the destruction of their enemies by fire. Wherefore the righteous need not fear. For thus saith the prophet, they shall be saved even if it so be, as by fire. The old, my brother, and I say unto you that these things may shortly come.

Ye even blood and fire and vapors of smoke must come, and it must needs be upon the face of the earth, and it come with a demand according to the flesh, if it so be that they will harden their hearts against the Holy One of Israel, for behold, the righteous shall not perish. For the time surely must come that all who fight against Zion shall be cut off. So, point one, the second coming is to destroy those who would destroy the earth. God's not going to let that happen. God's not going to let that happen. Christ is not going to let that happen. The second point is the proximity is not going to be good enough. In chapter 11, going back there again, verse 1,

we find that John himself measures the temple. But what is interesting is he measures the altar and the court and those who are worshipping therein, but it specifically says, don't measure the outer court, or it is given unto the Gentiles to trample. The lesson that I get out of this is that no unrighteousness is exempt even if found among the saints. All in the church must never forget the Lord's declaration which says, behold, vengeance come as speedy upon the inhabitants of the earth, a day of wrath, a day of burning, a day of desolation, of weeping, of mourning, of lamentation, and as a

whirlwind it shall come upon all the face of the earth, sayeth the Lord, and upon my house shall it begin. And from my house shall it go forth, sayeth the Lord, first among you, those among you, sayeth the Lord, who have professed to know my name and have not known me and have blasphemed against me in the midst of my holy house. Sayeth the Lord, section 112, verses 24 through 26. Under the power of his judgment, the mask of pretended righteousness will be ripped off, hypocrisy will be fully exposed, and those saints, or would-be saints, or fault-saints, will then with the wicked raise up their eyes and hell for what they have done. The third, the key to safety, is being a Zion people.

I'm reaching back for these lessons. This is out of chapter 14, verse 1, where the Savior is there with 144,000. What we have to understand is that Satan is not particularly afraid of the church. He is terrified of Zion. The reason is not particularly terrified of the church. We also see earlier as the dragon, we have the beautiful mother who is in travail, the dragon is there, that chapter 13, to have the beautiful mother who is in travail, the dragon is there,

that chapter 13 to consume the babe. Why doesn't he consume the mother? He's not particularly worried about the church. I mean, take a look at the Old Testament, how does Malachi and Agai and it is with kind of a hopelessness and only looking to the future, things are really bad. How does the book of ether end? Postercy, you know, the nation goes down. How does the book of Mormon end? Postercy, the nation goes down. How does the New Testament end? Interesting enough, if we did not have Revelation, we got James, what do you say? I'm here to preach the gospel, which was once preached unto us. It's no more. The church again has folded and so on. Well, thank goodness I have the book of Revelation because the good guys win in the book of Revelation.

But my point is that Satan is not particularly worried about the church. He trips that into apostasy. Every thrice in a while, Zion, however, Zion never falls to apostasy. Zion comes and Zion's go, but they never apostatize. That is where the real strength is. The way that Satan operates, the way that the false prophet or Babel on the Great Work is not by attacking good works directly, but by changing the doctrine, and by changing the doctrine, you can get good people to do bad things. Let me just give a couple of examples. One, they, Lord, has assured us, the earth has enough and despair. We're not going to run out of anything. Lithium, whatever it is, we're not going to run out of it. If we believe that there's not enough despair, good

people can do bad things. Good people change the doctrine. They can do bad things. For instance, what about marriage? We as Latter-day Saints know that marriage is eternal. That heaven itself is built on the family and the family structure. It's the government of heaven and so on. Our job, of course, is to promote the nuclear family. Therefore, we have to promote Zion. We have to strengthen families. We have to do missionary work. Get out there. We have to do temple work so that the foundation is very, very solid. We have to live to promote spirituality and personal purity of Zion is pure. Satan has to make us impure. We've got a fight against that, and we have to promote love and unity. And what will be the

result? The saints will not need to fight the battles of the last days. Let me read this. The reason we won't have to fight is that the enemy cannot move against the right of saints. By the time the army gathers, the Lamb will have established places of refuge in Zion and interstakes and in Jerusalem. Indeed, the gathering together upon the land of Zion and upon her stakes will be for a defense and for a refuge from the storm that will be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth. As we have seen already, the Lamb will be with the saints on Mount Zion, and the glory of the Lord shall

be there, and the terror of the Lord shall be there in so much that the wicked will not come unto it. In fact, they will say, let us not go up to battle against science, but the inhabitants of Zion are terrible, wherefore we cannot stand. It will be at this time that every man that will not take up his sword against his neighbor must needs fleet of Zion for safety, and they will be the only people that shall not be a war, one with another. Thus the task of the saints is to rely on God and continue to push forward in faith. Finally, the last takeaway from this. The most important thing we can do is to prepare and to prosper.

That's really, really what we should be about in these later days. In modern times, the Lord has declared, and there, my witnesses testimony shall go forth unto the condemnation of this generation, if they harden their hearts against me, for desolating, sir, shall go forth among the inhabitants of the earth, and shall continue to be poured out in time the time if they repent not until the earth is empty, and the wicked inhabitants thereof are consumed away and utterly destroyed by the brightness of my coming. Let's start in Covenant 5, 18 and 19. Further, he warns, for behold and low, vengeance come as speedily upon the ungodly, as the whirlwind,

and who shall escape. The Lord's scourge shall pass over by day and by night, and the report thereof shall vex all people ye, it shall not be stayed until the Lord come, for the indignation of the Lord is kumbled against their abominations, and all their wicked works at Stockton and the Governance, 97, 20, through 24. Once the plagues began, as I noted earlier, there is no way to stop them. But what of the saints? And this is the glory of the whole thing. The Lord is warned, Zion shall escape if she observed to do all that we can. In closing, chapter 22 verse 17, and the Spirit of the bride say, come, and let him that hear us say, come, and let him that is a thirst come and whosoever will let him take the waters of life freely. That's what you and I need to be about. We know what's coming, we know it's going to be bad and therefore

we need to reach out to others to put away our shyness, to put away our concerns, our self consciousness and so on and be able to reach out to others and bring them into the fold of Zion so that they, with us, can be assured that they can have peace and rest during trouble times. And then, may we, and we started with this one, John, you mentioned this when chapter 15 verses 3 and 4, and they sing the Son of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb saying, great and marvelous, are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true, are thy ways, thou king of saints. O, shall not fear the O Lord and glorify the name, or thou only art holy, or all nations shall come to worship before the, for thy judgments are made manifest."

That's really what we are all about. And the power is there. These are brutal chapters, but what we see in them is the power of God moving and that power is upon his saints. And if we will just do as he wants us to do, the future promises to be unlike anything we've seen before, as God moves onto the stage of his tree, as he dwells with his people and as we prepare for the great millennial reign. This is my prayer and my hope that we will reach out beyond ourselves and say to others come,

you'll come be with us. I do not protect the legs of Babylon. That was beautiful. I'm so glad it ends with hope and with the tree of life and an invitation. Everybody come. Now that invitation if you want it, come to it. I wonder if Joseph Smith said, this is the planist book, maybe because by the end you realize the choice is easy, right? One kingdom will fall, one will prevail, choose.

Take your pick, which one you want. This is from Orson F. Whitney. I want to read this to you. He says, we put our lives and liberties and jeopardy when we preach that which is unpopular and brings upon us the wrath and hatred of the world. We desire as much as any man can desire the salvation of our fellow men. Our mission is to save, not to condemn. This is the gospel of salvation, not a gospel of damnation, but damnation follows as a necessary alternative to the rejection of truth. Men who reject truth, damn themselves. The man who will shut the door at his own face keeps

himself out of the kingdom. The waters of life are free, come and protect them without money and without price. If you will not protect them, how can you blame anyone but yourself if you die of thirst in the desert? If you put out the light by persecuting the saints of God, how can you blame any but but yourself if you're left in darkness? We invite men to come into the sunlight, but they prefer to stay in the shade. Who is to blame but themselves? They have their choice. Light has burst stay in the shade, who is to blame, but themselves, they have their choice.

Light has burst forth in the midst of darkness. God is merciful, but responsibility rests like a mountain upon those who hear the truth and reject it. That seems to be the message of revelation that there's an obvious winner in this, and you can be on that side. I'm so grateful for these scholars, Hank, and to be able to sit here and learn like this is just an amazing blessing.

And thankful for all the listeners. I can't tell you the love I feel from people that are benefiting from all of these scholars. It's just a blessing, and I just want to say thanks to everybody. Now, it's been a wonderful three years of this. It seems like yesterday I was calling you saying, Hey, by the way, we're starting a podcast and you said, we are.

Yeah, we are. And here we are three years later. And we have the likes of Richard Draper here to teach us and our listeners such a blessing. What a blessing. We want to thank Dr. Richard Draper for spending his time with us today. What a treat. We want to thank our executive producer, Shannon Swanson. Thank you for another year of Scripture study, Shannon.

We want to thank our sponsors David and Verla Swanson and we always remember our founder, the wonderful Steve Swanson. We hope you'll join us next week because we are starting our study, John. I know you're excited. We are starting with our first episode on the book of Mormon. Next week on Follow Him. Today's transcripts, show notes and additional references are available on our website, follow him.co. That's follow him.co. You can watch the podcast on YouTube with additional videos on our Facebook and Instagram accounts. All of this is absolutely free and we'd love for you to share it with your family and friends. We'd like to reach more of those who are searching for help with their Come Follow Me study. If you could subscribe to, rate, review, and comment on the podcast, that will

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