Powerful Passages for Powerful Living
Study Guide, April 12, 2026
Pastor Clay Olsen
We are about to embark on a journey through some of the most powerful passages in the Scriptures. And one of the great benefits of doing so is to enable us each to not only better know and understand the Word of God, but to become more and more empowered to live for the glory of our God and the gain of others and ourselves as well. And these ‘Powerful Passages’ will empower us to do just that. They will power us up because they are powerful truths given to us by our All-Powerful God! So, are you ready to get ‘powered up?’
Our first stop is: The Return of the Lord Jesus Christ! Of course, we can only imagine what the glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ to Earth is going to be like, but we do have some glorious images from the Apostle John’s descriptions of it in Revelation 19. Though impossible to depict, Artists have tried to depict it, and rightly so, since we do know, just as the Angels told the Disciples in Acts 1, that this same Jesus who was taken up to Heaven will return to this very Earth. This same Resurrected Jesus, Whom we celebrated last week on Resurrection Sunday, is coming back! And then John goes on to describe it in one of the most powerful passages in the Bible.
Of all the truths that run throughout the Bible, this truth that Jesus Christ is coming back is uniquely intended to empower you for living each day. The Creator that made you and the Savior that saved you is also the King that is coming back for you…first to catch you up with Him in the Rapture, unless you go to be with Him before that…and then to bring back with Him all His redeemed family when He returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Even as John was writing about all of this he was hearing ‘Hallelujahs’ breaking out all around him. A series of four Hallelujahs erupt in surround sound. Notice Rev. 1:1 – “After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God.” This “Hallelujah” is in celebration of the Vindication of Truth. Next: Rev. 1:3 – “And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.” This “Hallelujah” is in celebration of Justice over the judgment of false religion and rebellion against the Creator. Next is Rev. 1:4 – “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” This “Hallelujah” is in celebration and praise of God Himself! And the fourth is Rev. 1:6 – “Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.” And this “Hallelujah” is in celebration and praise over God’s eternal rule in which His promised coming Kingdom has indeed come to Earth!
And that’s another ‘power point’ out of this part of the passage…and that is that the ‘Thy Kingdom come’ part that we pray for is now underway. Even now the Kingdom that is coming is in the midst of its preparation to come! Oh, it’s coming all right! And it could be soon and very soon that we are going to see the Lord and His Kingdom that is coming to Earth! Plus, this fact that Jesus is coming back is to daily fuel our daily lives. This truth will not only empower our good works for Christ, but it also will inspire us to greatly watch for Christ…to keep watch and to keep watching…to keep looking up, for we are nearer to Christ’s return today than at any point in history!
Speaking of which…all of Earth’s history, from the day of the Fall of Man and the corruption of creation and mankind, has been leading up to this day when the Creator comes to personally take over the rule and reign of His Earth, along with His entire Universe. And John says it’s going to unfold like this: Rev. 19:11-13 – “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.” NASB
So John sees heaven ‘opened!’ Remember, John was not the first to see Heaven ‘opened.’ Ezekiel saw opened heavens and visions of God while by the River Chebar. Stephen saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at God’s right hand just before his death. Saul experienced a light from heaven and a vision of the resurrected Jesus on the road to Damascus. Peter saw heaven opened and a sheet descending in a vision. Isaiah experienced a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne. Jacob saw a ladder reaching to heaven with Angels, calling it the “gate of heaven”. Nathanael was promised by Jesus that he would see heaven open. And of course, Jesus saw the Heavens open at His baptism. And actually, earlier in John’s revelation he said this: Rev. 4:1 – “After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”
How about that? John speaks of looking into Heaven as seeing a door opened up to unveil this wondrous world of Heaven. Even the word “revelation” is derived from the Latin revelatio, which translates the Greek word apokalypsis, literally meaning an “unveiling,” “uncovering,” or “revealing” of something previously hidden. It’s like the splitting of the curtains in the temple and unveiling the Holy of Holies. Could it be that we are presently separated from Heaven not so much by distance as by dimension? Every indication about Heaven from the Scriptures seem to indicate as much. Even Scientists realize that we have only discovered a few of the many dimensions of life that really exist. Also remember, Jesus’ own immortal resurrected body had many more capabilities of experiencing other dimensions than mere mortals are able to experience. And when we realize that Angels exist in our midst in another dimension it excites us even more to realize that Heaven is not so much far far above us, but more so actually surrounds us! We are surrounded by Heaven. Wherever any Saint in the Scriptures was on Earth, when he or she looked up…they looked up into Heaven. Which means our Lord Jesus and the saved of the Scriptures and our saved loved ones are nor so much far far away, as they are nearer than we imagined. They are just behind the ‘veil’ in the better land of Heaven. And as John tells us – this ‘veil’ of Heaven is about to be pulled back!
So again, what all these saints of Scripture saw and what we will see is one day this doorway to this dimension, presently sealed from Earth, will one day open and those presently in Heaven and others that join them before Jesus returns will also return to not only inhabit the Planet, but to rule and reign over it with the King, the Lord Jesus Christ. But we are getting ahead of our passage here…
The week before Easter we observed Palm Sunday. Jesus first mission was to carry out the plan of redemption. Many of the people wanted ‘Physical redemption’…they wanted a King to conquer their enemies and impose His kingdom in their time. They had failed to listen to all the Prophets, beginning with Moses and all through John the Baptist, that before physical redemption is possible, spiritual redemption must be accomplished. Until the final sacrificial Lamb pronounced “It is finished” upon that altar of sacrifice…the Cross, there could be no finished redemption. And so Jesus came as the Lamb of God riding upon a humble colt of a donkey to offer Himself as a sacrifice for our sins.
Remember, conquering Kings rode white stallions into the battlefield. One day Jesus will come riding the white stallion. But in order for anyone to become right with this King on the stallion you first have to become right with the Lamb on that colt of a donkey. And that calls for each person to personally call out to Jesus “Hosanna”…not ‘save me from the rule of others, but ‘save me ’ from the rule of my sin… “Lord Jesus, save me from my sin and self.” (And we pray that each of you have called out to the Lord Jesus to save you from your sin and self. You must have spiritual redemption before you can experience the physical redemption that coming for all of God’s saved children.)
And then how about this? So when Jesus returns John said this conquering King is called…well, you would think it would be the names of like Isaiah’s prophecy…Wonderful Counselor or Mighty God or Eternal Father or Prince of Peace…but instead John says… “He who sat on it is called Faithful and True.” So John calls the One who has come to rule the Earth “Faithful and True.” As opposed to what? Or, we should say…as opposed to ‘who?’ What or who is the opposite of Faithful and True? That would be one who is called: ‘Deceiver and Liar!’ The Bible calls Satan the great Deceiver and Jesus said Satan is the Father of lies. And this world…the world since the Fall of mankind until the Return of the King…this world is being ruled by the one whom Paul called… ‘the god of this world.’ (little ‘g’ that is)
Note this carefully: Regardless of what people think, there are only two gods in existence. Actually, there is only one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The other is not a god, but the Devil does lord his power over this world system, including philosophies, education, entertainment, governments…and basically over all unsaved once-born only people. Satan is the ‘ruler of this world’ (John 12:31) and the ‘prince of the power of the air.’ (Eph. 2:2) Though limited by the Sovereign God, Satan exercises powerful influence over this ungodly world system, promoting lies, establishing false religions, opposing God’s will at every turn, and deceiving unrepentant people far more than they any idea of how much they are being deceived.
In fact, to state it as startling a way as possible, the Apostle Paul revealed that every unsaved person on Earth is in fact a captive of Satan’s and is daily doing the will of Satan, even though they think they are this ‘independent free-thinking person doing their own will.’ Not so! When people choose to rule themselves, they have already chosen to be ruled by Satan. They have been completely deceived by the Great Deceiver of souls. Notice: 2 Tim. 2:24-26 –“The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.”NASB
How sad and what a waste that every day of an unrepentant/unsaved person’s life is lived as a captive of the devil and is doing the will of the devil. Which is primarily to live your life resisting Christ’s rule as Lord of your life and rejecting or neglecting Christ’s sacrificial life and death as Savior of your life. Remember, it is as C.S. Lewis once put it: “You will either say to God as your Lord and Savior – “Thy will be done” or God will say to you as you go away into everlasting judgment – “thy will be done.” Be sure to tell God that you want His will to be done in your life…in saving your soul and in ruling over your life.
So Jesus very name is ‘Faithful and True!’ Plus, the Apostle tells us that Jesus has another name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. John saw it written, and he was in awe with its splendor; but it was too much for him, or anyone to understand or know. Jesus once said, “No man knoweth the Son but the Father” (Matt. 11:27); and here Jesus appears in all those unrevealed and unknowable wonders, which connect Him with the incomprehensible Godhead. This Warrior, Judge, and King has a name ineffable and unknowable, but it is a true and rightful name,—a name of majestic reality, “which is above every name.”
It’s like the Apostle Paul said of God in Rom.11:33 – “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!” It’s like there is not even anything in the languages of Heaven and Earth that can describe our God…Who He is in His vast unknowableness of greatness,—in heights of majesty and glory, and in all of His attributes and in all of His works and ways.
And yet, this same God of glory is the same Savior of mercy that has come to us and said to us: “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Matt 11:28-30 NASB
How beyond amazing that the Almighty God who slays His enemies with the breath of His mouth then comes to us and speaks words of peace and love and mercy and grace. That is just the kind of God we serve and Savior we love and Heavenly Father we have.