The One Thing John Was Given That No One Else Could Write

The book of Revelation has been one of the most misunderstood and controversial books in all of scripture. The strange symbols, the incredible activities and events, are really unlike anything else we have. And John didn't make any of it up. He saw everything in vision. He saw the beasts and the whore, the dragon with its horns, the woman, the plagues. Every one of those symbols was given to him by God. I believe that is exactly what preserved the book. If it had been written out in plain language, the people who took so many plain and precious things out of the Bible would have taken this out too, and the book of Revelation would never have made it to us.

So we have to look beyond the symbols. We have to understand what's going on underneath them and what's actually happening. I've had a lot of fun over the years pondering what these things mean. But there is a passage in the Book of Mormon that changed the way I read the whole book of Revelation, and I want to show it to you.

Nephi Saw It Too

In 1 Nephi chapter 14, an angel tells Nephi that John was given an assignment. John was to write these things down. That was his mission to perform for the world, and that marvelous record was his to make. I believe every one of us has something God wants us to do. Hardly any of us will ever be given anything as great as what John was given. But he was given that tremendous mission, and he fulfilled it.

Now here is what's so interesting. The vision John saw was never John's alone. Nephi tells us he was shown the very same vision. And the angel told him, in effect, you are going to see it, but you cannot write it down...

And behold, the things which this apostle of the Lamb shall write are many things which thou hast seen; and behold, the remainder shalt thou see. But the things which thou shalt see hereafter thou shalt not write; for the Lord God hath ordained the apostle of the Lamb of God that he should write them. And also others who have been, to them hath he shown all things, and they have written them; and they are sealed up to come forth in their purity, according to the truth which is in the Lamb, in the own due time of the Lord, unto the house of Israel. (1 Nephi 14:24–26)

Then Nephi states it plainly...

And I, Nephi, heard and bear record, that the name of the apostle of the Lamb was John, according to the word of the angel. And behold, I, Nephi, am forbidden that I should write the remainder of the things which I saw and heard; wherefore the things which I have written sufficeth me; and I have written but a small part of the things which I saw. (1 Nephi 14:27–28)

A small part. Nephi saw it all, and he was told to put down his pen. So the question I've asked myself for years is this. What exactly was John's assignment? What was so significant about what he saw and wrote that no one else was allowed to write it? Nephi saw an incredible amount. What did John have that Nephi didn't?

What Nephi Was Allowed to Write

Look at how much Nephi does tell us. The angel shows him the great and abominable church, and then the angel says something that a lot of people don't like to hear...

And he said unto me: Behold there are save two churches only; the one is the church of the Lamb of God, and the other is the church of the devil; wherefore, whoso belongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God belongeth to that great church, which is the mother of abominations; and she is the whore of all the earth. And it came to pass that I looked and beheld the whore of all the earth, and she sat upon many waters; and she had dominion over all the earth, among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people. (1 Nephi 14:10–11)

There are only two churches. Those who will not join the church of God are part of the great and abominable church. Then Nephi sees how small the Lord's church is going to be by comparison, and what that other church does with all of its power...

And it came to pass that I beheld the church of the Lamb of God, and its numbers were few, because of the wickedness and abominations of the whore who sat upon many waters; nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were the saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and their dominions upon the face of the earth were small, because of the wickedness of the great whore whom I saw. And it came to pass that I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of all the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. (1 Nephi 14:12–13)

Zion and her stakes are going to be established all over the earth, and they are going to be fought. Multitudes are going to gather together to fight against the Lamb of God, and that means they are going to fight against the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Nephi prophesied that right here, six hundred years before Christ was born. But he didn't stop with the fight. He saw how it ends...

And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory. (1 Nephi 14:14)

So Nephi sees the gathering of the saints. He sees the building of Zion. He sees the wrath of God poured out on that great and abominable church, with wars and rumors of wars among all the nations of the earth (1 Nephi 14:15). And that is only chapter 14. By this point he has already been shown what happens to the Jews he left behind in Jerusalem, that they will reject Jesus Christ and be scattered, and the diaspora happens because of it. He has been shown what happens to his own people, that they also fight against the Lamb, even after the tremendous blessing of having Jesus Christ appear to them with the power of God upon them (1 Nephi 12). Then he is shown the blessings given to the Gentiles. Columbus comes across the water. The Pilgrims come, and they bring the Bible with them. They build up a great and powerful Christian nation. Yet they stumble, and they stumble tremendously, because of the plain and precious things that were taken out of the Bible (1 Nephi 13). And in the end they also turn against Christ, against the true Lamb of God. Nephi sees all of that.

Isaiah saw many of these same things. I believe it was the same vision. I pointed out a lot of the similarities in my book, and I believe Isaiah chapter 13 describes the same events as Revelation chapter 9. They all see the ending. They all see the fall of Babylon, the great wars and destructions, the Antichrist, the mark of the beast.

So I ask the question again. What is unique about what John had to offer the world?

He Shows Us Where It Starts

I pondered that for years, and the answer came to me while I was writing my book. Everyone else saw the end. John was given the beginning. He is the one who shows us how all of this starts. To John was given the unique mission of showing us when the whole thing begins, and I submit to you that it begins in Revelation chapter 6, with the seven seals.

People argue with me about this all the time. They tell me we are in the sixth seal, or the seventh. I give away my chapter on the seven seals for free, What Seal Are We In?, because I want people to see the case for themselves, and I show very clearly from the scriptures that none of the seals have been opened. They are about to be. And that is the key. Once that first seal is opened, we will know exactly where we are in the book of Revelation...

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. (Revelation 6:1–2)

When the first horseman rides forth, he goes forth conquering and to conquer. He is given the authority of God. He has the power to accomplish the thing he was sent to do. He is the one who wounds the beast. In my book I show the chiastic structure in Revelation, where chapter 6 corresponds to chapters 12 and 13, and chapter 7 corresponds to chapter 14, and how the hidden structure of the whole book fits together around it. I go on at length there about how it all fits. But the unique thing I believe John was given is the timeline. He shows us the beginning.

And here is where I stand, and I want to be clear that this is my belief, drawn from years of study. I propose in my book that it all begins when Donald Trump receives his calling from God. When he is announced by God, when he is healed by God as the marred servant who comes forth and is given the power and commission to do the work, that is when all of this starts.

I've Thrown Out Every Timeline

I've written before that I've thrown out every timeline I've ever seen. I've been watching them for well over fifty years. They have come and gone, and not one of them has ever been correct. None that I see today are correct either. I have books full of them on my shelf. I see people write very complicated books comparing the Hebrew feasts and the celestial calendars and everything else they can think of, and then they run it all through a computer analysis to come up with a date. I'm telling you, they're wrong. I explained more about why I stopped following anyone's Second Coming timeline in another article, but the short answer is that God already gave us one.

We have a long way to go.

The opening of the first seal is the beginning of everything. That is where it starts. Then comes the second seal, the red horse of war. Then the third, the black horse of famine. Then the fourth, the pale horse of plague and disease and death. Then the fifth seal and the martyrs. The seals open in that order, even though what happens inside them will not line up neatly for anyone to chart. But the covenants of the Father don't wait for the later seals. As I show in my book, they begin to be fulfilled with the establishment of Zion, and part of the first horseman's role is to help establish the New Jerusalem. So that work begins with the first seal. Then the sixth seal begins calamities unlike anything the world has ever seen, and I propose that is when the gathering of all the house of Israel, all the covenant people of the Lord, takes place. That is when they are armed with righteousness and with power, just as Nephi saw, and the wrath of God is poured out upon that great Babylonian church.

The wrath starts in the sixth seal. But it is in the seventh seal that the truly stunning calamities hit the earth. The meteors, the volcanoes, the tsunamis, Wormwood. And then God's army. Revelation chapter 9 is not Satan's army. It is God's army. The angel who comes down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit holds a priesthood key, and the warriors who come out are God's warriors going out among the earth. I've written extensively about that in the book, and I won't repeat it all here, because what I really want you to see is how it begins.

John's Commission

Nephi saw it all. Isaiah saw it. Others saw it, and their records are sealed up to come forth in the Lord's own due time. They all saw the end of the world. But the Lord ordained one man to write it down for us, and the piece of it that no one else gives us is the opening. John shows us the exact place where it starts, and that place is Revelation chapter 6.

Everybody else who has their own timeline, I'm sorry, but they just don't fit. God gave us the timeline. That was John's mission. He showed us the opening of all of it, so that when the first horseman rides forth, the people who have been watching will know exactly where they stand. If you want to see the whole case laid out, it is all in my book.

I pray that we can get ready for the tremendous events that are about to come upon the earth.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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Keep Reading

• The Gathering of Israel: Timeline, Signs, and What to Watch
• No, We Are Not in the Seven Seals Yet. Relax and Get Ready!
• What Happens When Each of the Seven Seals Is Opened?