Have you ever felt like you've been away from something for so long that it's hard to know how to come back to it? That's how Johan, the host of the Beholding podcast, felt when he returned to his podcast after a hiatus. But he's excited to be back and to try something new with the podcast's format.

"Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not in the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference." - Max Lucado

In this episode, Johan starts by taking a moment to prepare his listeners' hearts and minds to receive what God has for them. He invites them to find a quiet space, free from distractions, and to take a deep breath, giving the Lord their worries, fears, and distractions. He then leads them in prayer, asking that God would speak through his word and reveal more about himself to them.

Johan then turns to Revelation 8 to 13, and reads aloud from the passage. As he reads, he encourages his listeners to engage with the Lord in what he's saying in the passage, and to later list the things that they've heard from him. He then highlights one thing that stands out to him in the passage: the absolute sovereignty of God.

He notes that even in the midst of devastating and awe-inspiring events triggered by an angel's action, God is not only in control of these events, but He is also using them to accomplish His purposes. And even in the midst of judgment, there is a redemptive purpose at work. Johan takes away from the passage that we can be assured that God is in control, and that even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, we can trust that He is working all things together for our good and that His plans and purposes will ultimately prevail.

Johan then encourages his listeners to read the passage on their own and ask the Lord to reveal his heart to them. He reminds them that the Beholding podcast is a canvas, and the painting is an ever-expanding portrait of Jesus. He invites them to come with him on this long journey endeavoring to find out what God is like using the Scriptures as his roadmap.

In this episode of Beholding, Johan invites his listeners to take the time to behold God together, to engage with His word, and to allow Him to reveal more about Himself to them. It's a reminder that even in the midst of uncertainty and chaos, we can trust in God's sovereignty and know that His plans and purposes will ultimately prevail."

Visit: https://beholding.ca

God is not only the Greatest of all beings but the Best. All the goodness there is in any creature has been imparted from the Creator, but God’s goodness is underived, for it is the essence of His eternal nature. -Arthur W. Pink

Hey everyone, Welcome to Beholding, I am Johan and I am so happy you joined me. 

 Before we get into the good stuff let’s get all the info out of the way so that at the end of this podcast you can use that time to connect with the Lord’s heart without distractions.

First of all, follow, share the podcast…all those nice things that help spread the word

You can support my ministry as well as the podcast by heading over to beholding.ca

Last episode we read through the beautiful prophesy at the end of Revelation 7. About the over-comers and those that came out of the tribulation. God wipes every tear from their eyes and washes their robes in white to come and serve Him day and night in the temple.

This week we move on to Revelation 8 where we wrap up the discourse on the 7 seal judgments. 

So here we go Revelation 8:1-5

The Passage

When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, 4 and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings,[a] flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The List:

1. He is The Lamb 

2. (the lamb) opens the seventh seal

3. There are moments of silence in heaven 

4. There is a measurement of time in heaven

5. There are seven angels that stand before God

6. The Lord distributes trumpets to his angels

7. There is an angel with a censor before the altar 

8. That angel uses the censor to offer our prayers as incense to God

9. Our prayers rise like incense and smoke before God 

10. There is fire on the heavenly altar

11. He assigns an angel to throw fiery judgements to the earth 

12. Our prayers stir up the Lord to release judgments

You are the Lamb 

You (the lamb) open the seventh seal

There are seven angels that stand before you

You distribute trumpets to his angels

You place an angel with a censor before the altar 

That angel uses the censor to offer our prayers as incense to you

Our prayers rise like incense and smoke before you

There is fire on your heavenly altar

You assign angels to throw fiery judgements to the earth 

Our prayers stir up your heart to release judgments

The God of Israel is sometimes a God who hides Himself, but never a God who absents Himself; sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance. -Matthew Henry

Last week we were in the second session of Revelation 7. We read about the multitude before His throne, the diversity of people worshiping before Him from every nation, tribe, tongue. This week we finish off Revelation 7 with verses 13-17

Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

“Therefore they are before the throne of God,

    and serve him day and night in his temple;

    and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

    the sun shall not strike them,

    nor any scorching heat.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

    and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

1. He allows the elders initiate conversation
2. The great multitude that is before his throne from every tribe, tongue and nation are the ones that have come out of the great tribulation
3. He washes those from the tribulation in his blood
4. Those he washes in blood makes them white and pure
5. Those who come out of the great tribulation have the privilege of being before His throne, serving God day and night in the heavenly temple
6. He shelters the overcomers with his presence
7. Those who came out of the tribulation shall no longer hunger thirst or be struck by the scorching sun
8. The lamb is in the midst of the throne
9. The lamb will shepard those that came out of the great tribulation
10. The lamb will guide the overcomers to the springs of living water
11. God will wipe away every tear from the eyes of those that came out of the tribulation

You allow the elders initiate conversation before your throne

Those who came out of tribulation are before your throne

You wash those from the tribulation in your blood

Your washing blood makes us white and pure

Those who come out of the great tribulation have the privilege of being before your throne, serving you day and night in the heavenly temple

You shelter the overcomers with your presence

Those who came out of the tribulation shall no longer hunger thirst or be struck by the scorching sun

You are the lamb and you are in the midst of the throne

You, the lamb will shepard those that came out of the great tribulation

You, the lamb will guide the overcomers to the springs of living water

You will wipe away every tear from the eyes of those that came out of the tribulation

Submit feedback or content: 

website: beholding.ca

email: johan@beholding.ca

“If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them, and Heaven will display far more variety than Hell.” ― C.S. Lewis

Last week we began going through Revelation 7 and how the Lord will seal 144,000 Jewish believers from each tribe and nation. This week we continue in the same passge moving to verse 9-12

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Revelation 7:9-12 (ESV)

1. There is a huge multitude of humans before his throne (he likes humans close to him)
2. Heaven is multicultural He wants people before him that are froml every nation, tribe, people, and language
3. He clothes those before him in white robes
4. Those before him have palm branches
5. The multitude before him all cry out in a loud voice “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb”
6. Salvation belongs to Him
7. He sits on the throne
8. He is the Lamb
9. There are angels standing around his throne
10. There are elders around his throne
11. There are four living creatures around his throne
12. The angels, elders and creatures fall on thier faces before Him
13. The angels, elders and creatures say, ““Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
14. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might is attributed to God forever

There is a huge multitude of humans before your throne - You like humans close to you

Heaven is multicultural. You want people before you that are from every nation, tribe, people, and language

You clothe those before you in white robes

Those before you have palm branches (like the great procession)

The multitude before you all cry out in a loud voice “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb”

Salvation belongs to you

You sit on the throne

You are the Lamb

There are angels standing around your throne

There are elders around your throne

There are four living creatures around your throne

The angels, elders and creatures fall on their faces before you

The angels, elders and creatures say to you, ““Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might is attributed to you forever

Submit feedback or content: 

website: beholding.ca 

email: johan@beholding.ca

The God of Israel is sometimes a God who hides Himself, but never a God who absents Himself; sometimes in the dark, but never at a distance. -Matthew Henry

Last week we touched on the 5th and 6th seal judgements. We see God’s sovereignty over the sky and it’s hosts. We know there will be a number of martyrs crying out for the Lord to avenge the shedding of their blood. And he responds, he is stirred by this and it is manifested in his end time judgements. This week move along in this great end-time story line as we read about the 144,000 sealed jewish believers. In Revelation 7:1-8

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh, 

12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

1. You assign four angels to hold back the four winds and to harm the earth and sea You dispatch an angel with the seal of the living God from the sun to instruct the four angels holding back the four winds
2. There is a seal of the living God 
3. The angel with the seal has a loud voice
4. The angel with the seal instructs the four angels with power to not harm the earth or sea, or trees until God seals 144,000 jewish believers
5. He will put a seal on foreheads
6. God will seal and protect 144,000 jewish believers from each tribe of Israel

You assign angels for your end time purposes

You will assign angels to bring harm to the earth and sea as part of your plan

You will send angels to hold back the wind from blowing on the earth

You are the living God, and you have a seal with that name on it that you give to jewish believers

You dispatch an angel from the sun to instruct the four angels

You make assignments and involve angels in the process

You give angels loud voices

You will seal and bring divine protection to 144,000 jewish believers from each historic tribe.

The fact is you cannot talk about the love of God. The love of God has no meaning whatsoever unless you understand the judgment of God that all of us deserve. -Robert Jeffress

Last week we began going through the 7 seal judgements of God, the unveiling of God’s battle plan and the riders of the 4 horses. We got through the first four seals which we read were announced by the four living creatures. This week we get the next two seal judgements and then a break in judgments found in Revelation 6:9-17

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. Revelation 6:9-17

When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

1. There are souls of martyrs under the altar in heaven
2. The fifth seal releases intercession in heaven crying out for justice through those that have been martyred
3. He gives white robes to those that have been martyred
4. He is sovereign
5. He is holy and true
6. The shedding of blood for His sake stirs up his heart
7. God allows and knows how many are going to be killed for the witness of the gospel
8. There is a tipping point of the number of saints he will allow to be martyred
9. He uses earthquakes as a means of judgment
10. He will darken the sun
11. He will cause the moon to be blood red
12. He will cause stars (also translated asteroids) to fall from the sky
13. He causes the sky to roll up like a scroll 
14. He will cause mountains and Islands to be removed from their place
15. His judgements will strike fear into the hearts of leaders and people of influence in all streams of society
16. His judgments are so great that unbelievers will cry out for death to come upon them
17. His judgements seem unbearable to unbelievers

You have a space under your altar where the martyrs dwell in heaven

Your judgements cause intercession of the martyrs in heaven

You give those who have been killed for your sake a white robe

Those that are martyred declare your sovereignty 

Those that are martyred declare you holy and true (and we agree)

The shedding of the blood of your saints stirs up your heart, you respond

You know every person, the perfect amount of those that are to be slain for your sake

You have a number of martyrs in mind before you avenge their blood

You bring earthquakes as a form of judgment on the earth

You have authority over the sun, stars and everything in the sky, you will cause fearful things to happen in the sky in the day of judgement

You will remove mountains and Islands from their place

Your judgements will strike fear into the hearts of leaders and people of influence in all streams of society

Your judgments are so great that unbelievers will cry out for death to come upon them

Your judgements seem unbearable to unbelievers

Submit feedback or content: 

website: beholding.ca 

email: johan@beholding.ca

“God's wrath, properly, is an aspect of his love: it is because God loves human beings with a steady, unquenchable passion that he hated Apartheid, that he hates torture and cluster bombs, that he loathes slavery, that his wrath is relentless against the rich who oppress the poor. If God was not wrathful against these and so many other distortions of our human vocation, he is not loving. And it is his love, determining to deal with that nasty, insidious, vicious, soul-destroying evil, that causes him to send his only, special son.” 

― N.T. Wright

Last week we finished up Revelation 5 where all of the created order shouted out the worthiness of Jesus and the slain lamb. This week we move on to Revelation 6, the seven seals. We must remember that the book of Revelation is about revealing Jesus, so hard or easy passages…they should all lead to us knowing the son better than we do. Here in Revelation 6 I like how Mike Bickle describes this as Jesus battle plan. With all the chaos and things that could be deemed scary, we know the end of the story, Jesus wins. And may he do what he needs to do to accomplish that purpose. We will start with Revelation 6:1-8

Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer.

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius,and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth.

1. The lamb is the one opening the seven seal judgements on the earth
2. He assigns one of the four living creatures to announce the first judgment
3. He gives authority (a crown) to this rider on a white horse with a bow to conquer (Anti-Christ’s Politcal aggression)
4. He assigns another one of the four living creatures to announce the second judgment
5. He gives permission to the rider on the red horse to take peace from the earth (war, world war)
6. He assigns another one of the four living creatures to announce the third seal judgment
7. The rider on the black horse with scales in his hand brings economic crisis and famine
8. He assigns the fourth living creature to announce the fourth seal judgment
9. The rider on the pale horse whose name Death and Hades followed with him was given power to kill ¼ of the earth’s population with swords, hunger and beasts.

Jesus you are the slain lamb that is opening the seals on the scroll and releasing judements

You assign one of the living creatures to announce the first seal

You will give authority (a crown) to this rider on a white horse with a bow to conquer

You assign the second living creature to announce the second judgment

You will give permission to the rider on the red horse to take peace from the earth (war, world war)

You assign a third living creature to announce the third seal judgment

You allow rider on the black horse bring economic crisis and famine

You assign the fourth living creature to announce the fourth seal judgment

You permit the rider on the pale horse to kill ¼ of the earth’s population with swords, hunger and beasts.

Submit feedback or content: 

website: beholding.ca 

email: johan@beholding.ca

“God’s heavenly dwelling place represents the environment that God enjoys to live in. God’s desire is that places of this type would spring up all across this planet and that people would exercise the same zeal for that as David did. God’s plan is that this heavenly reality would be released here on earth, for even down here it’s worship that creates a dwelling place for Him.” ― Benjamin Schäfer

Last week we read about the slain lamb that ransomed a people for God. This week we continue on with this story line in Revelation 5:11-14

Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever”

And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

1. The voices of thousands upon thousands of angels are around your throne
2. The angels speak in a loud voice and say the same thing
3. The angels call the slain lamb worthy to receive the following…and therefore we agree that He is worthy:
4. To receive power
5. To receive wealth
6. To receive wisdom
7. To receive might
8. To receive honor
9. To receive glory
10. To receive blessing
11. Every creature in all of created order will declare, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever”
12. The four living creatures say “Amen” (Let it be so) in response to this
13. The Elders in heaven fall down and worship Him

There are thousands upon thousands of angels around your throne

The angels shout in loud voices

The angels that are forever in your presence declare the slain lamb to receive many things and we agree that you are worthy to recieve

All power

All wealth

All wisdom

All might

All honor

All glory

All blessing

Every creature in all of created order will declare to you the lamb who is sitting on the throne…be blessing glory and might forever and ever.

The four living creatures who speak night and day of your holiness agree

The elders respond in worship, falling at your feet

Submit feedback or content: 

website: beholding.ca 

email: johan@beholding.ca