Revelation

Transcript

My hope and desire, you know, we're in a tough month. The month of December can be very, very busy. And I know personally for me, you know, right now, I'm down two people in my department at work, so I'm trying to hire a couple of people. First set of interviews went great. We made offers, and both people had accepted jobs elsewhere. So I'm starting over again. I have reviews going on. We're reviewing our people at work. I'm being reviewed. So there's a lot going on at work. Those of you in the finance world and work, you know, you're closing the books on 2025. You know, there's all these deadlines that have to happen before the end of the year. So that can be a very stressful time. And our young people in school, those who might be taking final exams, writing papers, you know, trying to get ready for the end of the school year and for the nice winter break, there's a lot going on. It might be many of us who have travel plans this month. You know, grandma and grandpa might be flying up to see the grandkids or vice versa. Business trips, travel to get where you need to go. And then this last picture, you know, sums up, I think, without me saying much about it. You know, those with young kids. You know, there's a lot going on in this month. So I say happy holidays to everybody. But with all this going on, there's some scripture readings coming up, and it's packed into a 10-day window. And I'm talking about the book of Revelation, which will be the focus of our class, Lord willing, for the next few weeks. And it can get lost. I mean, and I hope I'm not, well, I do hope I'm alone, because this means that you're all more studious than I am. But there have been many times that I've looked at Revelation. I said, this is the year that I'm going to do a study on Revelation in depth. I want to know it inside and out. And then all of a sudden it's January 5th, and I realize that I maybe read four chapters of the book. Very disappointing. And it can go by like that, 10 days to read the book. And most of the time you're reading two chapters at a time. So it goes by quick, and it can get lost really quickly. So my goal here now, brothers and sisters, is we're, what, today is the seventh, so we're two weeks away from our first reading in Revelation, is motivate. If I don't do anything else, I hope to motivate all of us to give it a go, if you have it. And maybe you all have, and maybe you should be up here doing the class, but to really motivate. I know we read it again, I think it's in June. But again, you're talking the beginning of the summer. So maybe it gets lost there too. But it's a crucial message, as you all know. So motivation is the theme of classes for December. To do our best to read this book and to try to understand it in its message, because it's vitally important, as you all know. So the end game, brothers and sisters, we know it. Many times a brother comes up here, and we talk about God's plan to fill the earth with his glory. And that's the end game of Revelation. You know, Jesus, when he speaks, he speaks of two books being valuable for study. And the first one, and you don't have to look these up, I'll look them up, but it's in Matthew 24. And what's going on to set the scene is Jesus' disciples have asked him about his return and the signs of the end. And this is what Jesus responds. Matthew 24, verse 15. When you shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel. So there's the first book that Jesus tells his disciples of that day that they need to be aware of, that they need to read, that they need to be versed in is the book of Daniel. Our book, Jesus tells us in the Revelation itself, the first chapter, the third verse, we are told the following. Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand. So our book is Daniel, but also Revelation, for Revelation speaks of the times from Daniel to our time and beyond. So we need to be versed. We need to try, we need to give it a go to try to understand the book of Revelation for the end game is that the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. The world as we know it will not exist someday. It will be way better. It will be God's kingdom where he will be all in all and his son will reign in righteousness and truth. And that's what we all pray for every day, is for that kingdom. And that kingdom is the message of Revelation. If you remember anything else, the message of Revelation is chapter 11, verse 15. Everything is leading toward the kingdom. And that's where our faith comes in, brothers and sisters. And one of the beautiful things about Revelation at this point is a lot of it's already happened. You know, we're in the end times. And most of the prophecies within the book have already occurred. So again, motivation. If Revelation 11, 15 is not a motivating verse, then it should be. And it should be one that we know off the top of our heads as we study this book. Just being up front, up on the screen are some sources, references, some that I've used that are out there for us. And we're really blessed, aren't we, to have a group of brothers that have gone out and done a lot of the legwork on these studies and have given us their works to read and to study ourselves as we look into this book. So I really encourage you to look at some of these works if you have it. Some of them can be difficult. Some of them, like Brother Michael Ashton's Revelation Study Guide, are much clearer, I think. And for someone like me, it was of great use and a great source for me in looking at Revelation. So the question is, why do we need to read it? And why should we be excited about it? And I've kind of already touched on some of those. You know, the Revelation is Jesus' last message, His last message, given to those that would be alive, that would be His servants in the future. And that's us. This message is for you and I. It was a message for those in 100 A.D. in John's time. It was a message to all those that have lived in between. And it's our message today. And we already read Revelation 1 verse 3 about the importance of it. So it's meant for us to read it, to try as hard as we can to understand it. The message of Revelation is dependent on all that was written before it. So it completes the Gospel message. It completes the Old Testament. We already mentioned Daniel and his visions of the future. And it completes that message. And really, it's something we need to pay attention to. And you'll notice the times that you've read it, how different it is from other New Testament and Old Testament works. I mean, the Gospels and the Acts, the narratives on the life of Jesus and on the apostles and their work on spreading the Gospel. The letters are words of encouragement to the Ecclesiastes and direction to the believers. But Revelation is different. It's prophecy. It speaks to Jesus' servants of what would come to pass from the time that John received it in 96 A.D. until the time of Jesus' return and beyond. So it picks up, as I said earlier, with Daniel's message visions left off. And we'll look at some of Daniel's visions just to reacquaint ourselves with those. It also gives us greater awareness of the future glory and the plan of the Father. And, you know, as a father myself, there were times when my children would ask me things, and I would say, well, you don't need to know that. You know, don't worry, I've got it taken care of. And God tells us, don't worry, I've got it taken care of. But he's also told us what he plans to do. He hasn't hidden anything. If you open your eyes and your ears, you can see it. You can envision it. And that's an amazing thing and a great gift. We need not waste it. This next one was one I didn't really think of until Brother Steve's class. And this one really gets to me. It got to me last week, and it gets to me even today. You know, reading Revelation encourages us to identify with the persecuted minority who will be the saints who will be glorified when Christ returns. Just think of that, brothers and sisters. It just gives me chills to think of the day will come that you'll be standing next to the saints of old. And we're so blessed. We don't live in persecution. We meet here freely. You know, we can praise our God. We can sing as loud as we want. We can talk the truth as long as we want. No one's going to grab us and throw us in chains. But a lot of our brothers and sisters weren't that fortunate. They suffered greatly. And reading this unites us with them and the persecution and the pain they suffered for the truth and how they overcame it. It just sends shivers up my spine. It really does. Jesus sets expectations for his followers. You know, he sends over and over, you know, those who overcome, those who overcome as I overcame. The expectation is that we try to overcome. Overcome what? Overcome the sin that lies within each of us. The old man, the will of the flesh. You know, Jesus was able to do it and he did it for us. And we, you know, we struggle. We know we're not going to, you know, it's there. We're going to fail. But the expectation is that we try to overcome. That we put aside the will of our flesh to the glory of God. So overcoming is a big part of the revelation. And to those who overcome are granted to eat from the tree of life when Eden is restored. Jesus guarantees that we will be in that kingdom to join him and the saints of hope. And if this doesn't excite us, brothers and sisters and dear friends, I don't know what does. This should excite you. This is what all the years that you've been a faithful follower and believer of our Lord Jesus Christ in service. This is the end game. This is what we want. This is our hope and desire is to be in the kingdom with the saints of old. And that's what this book is all about. So and the great thing about revelation is, you know, you read all the prophecies and maybe you don't understand it. I'm not a historian like Brother Rich. There's a lot of it I don't truly understand. I can kind of figure it out. Okay, it's talking about this, but the in-depth minutia of names and people and places, I may not know. You may not know, but we need to do our best with it. And we should be inspired to do that for the prophecies that we've already read in Scripture that have been fulfilled. I mean, just think of Noah. What if he had not obeyed God and built that ark? You know, he believed in the prophecy. He believed what God told him and he built the ark and he saved his family, all right? He obeyed God rather than men. I forget who it was that gave a class on Noah and just the vision, the description and the pictures. You know, you think of Noah building the ark, but you don't think of the persecution that he suffered doing it. All those who mocked him, made fun of him, threatened him, you know, he was persecuted. He was one of the saints of old, all right? And he continued to build that ark, and that's great motivation for us when we read Revelation. And I put a few others up there. Isaiah 53, you know, not much needs to be said about that one. And then Ezekiel 37, the Valley of Dry Bones, you know, where it talks about Israel being reconnected, being reborn, and to see that being fulfilled. Now, I wasn't around in 1948. That must have been a magnificent time in the Brotherhood when that started to happen and came to pass. And, you know, we see now more people returning to Israel. So that's the beginning, the fulfillment. And we were part, we're living in part of this fulfillment. So that should do wonders for us in our faith as we read Revelation. The prophecies in Revelation should provide a motivating power for us today as Jesus said it should for the disciples of history. Reading from 2 Peter, we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. For the lamp shining in a dark place and we're told to fill our lamps with oil. Fill our lamps with oil with the Word of God. Revelation is a big part of that oil that needs to be filling our lamps. Knowing this, first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit, which Steve so elegantly spoke to us in his classes. And Revelation 22. Revelation is full as we're going to look at in a second, sevens, and one of the sevens are the seven blessings of Revelation, and this is one of them. Blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book. So there's a lot in here, brothers and sisters, to encourage us in our walk and in our study of this prophecy. The New Testament records records the spread of the Gospel from its earliest beginnings in Jerusalem throughout the Roman Empire, and this map gives us an idea of the spread of it through the Empire, and of course we know Paul ended up right in the heart of the Empire in Rome. And it makes sense that the book of Revelation would focus on this area, this part of the world to play its stage on. In Revelation, God instructs us on how he sees the world, how he sees the political part of the world, how he sees the religious part of the world. Revelation, this is how God sees it and what he sees it for. He tells us this in Revelation. Jesus warns, we know in the Gospel, that there will be a time when the truth will be corrupted. And Paul continues that in some of his letters to the Ecclesiastes, and I want to look at a couple of them just so we get a sense of what Paul told us. The first one is 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, and here Paul tells them in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, Let no man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come, meaning the return of Christ, without a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition. So he's warning the Thessalonians of a falling away first before the coming of Christ, the falling away caused by apostasy and false doctrines. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. So, and he also, in 2 Timothy 3, verses 1 through 5, and we'll look at this one, this will be our last verses on this, Paul says, This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth-breakers, and it goes on, traitors. Verse 5, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away. And I don't want to name names. One time I went to a church meeting with one of my aunts, and I was taken aback. I don't think the Bible was mentioned one time. Scripture was never opened. It basically was a sing-along. You know, it was both a bunch of people singing songs joyously. I mean, they were joyous. But you try to talk Scripture, and it was like, no, you just need to feel good. Feel good about yourself. You know, that's what's important here. And I think that's what these verses speak of. You know, the people are having a form of godliness, but many have turned it to benefit them in their lives. How can I have a form of godliness that looks like godliness but make me feel good? Brother Butch has spoken on this many times. And I think this is what Paul is speaking about here. You know, don't get tricked into this. There's one truth. There's one gospel. That's the message you need to believe to be saved. So on the far right of what I have up there, that is present-day Colosseum, I mean, Patmos, I'm sorry, where John was exiled. And I don't think it looked like that in John's day. No, not bad at all. And surprising to me when I looked this up, Patmos, you probably can't see it. I'm going to try something. Let's see if this works. Going with the laser pointer. Can you see that? So Patmos, this is current-day Turkey, Asia Minor, back in that day. And Patmos is a small island right off the coast. But now it's part of Greece. Greece actually controls Patmos. And as you can see by the pictures, Patmos has become a great travel destination. People go there to visit where John was held in exile. But as you can see, the beach resorts and the luxury hotels don't make it a bad place to visit either. It's turned into quite a vacation spot. So it's a lot different from the time John was there. If you're willing, if you want to, you can turn to Revelation 1 with me. If not, that's fine too. Revelation 1. Verse 1, I have it up there for you, but we read, The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him. Here we go again. The word, the revelation, the prophecy didn't come from men. It came from God. And it was given to Jesus, who in turn showed it to his servants through his angel. He gave the message to his angel to give unto John so John could share that message with those believers of that time and with those in the future that were yet unborn with us. So the message, so the message as we said originated with God, so it was not man created, and it was passed to Jesus and then to Jesus by his angel to John. And there are many verses that speak on this being things that must shortly come to pass. Now remember that this shortly come to pass is in God's time, not in ours. The Revelation is over quite a period of time. And you can see the verses. I'll show the things which must take place after this. And plenty of verses that speak of things happening in the future. So the key is that the Revelation is from John's time in 96 A.D. through the future. It doesn't look backwards. So that's one important message for us to take into account. The things which must shortly take place. Revelation is the Greek word meaning uncovering, unveiling or unsealing. And the end game, the victory of truth over apostasy. If we were going to put a boxing match on this, you'd have Marvin Hagler against Sugar Ray Leonard. I'd put Revelation, the truth versus apostasy. And the truth is going to win out. As we know, that's God's plan winning over the plans of men. I don't know what's going on here. My slides have a mind of their own. It must have to do with this laser pointer, I think. I don't know. So the number seven plays a crucial role in the book of Revelation. And one thing I want you to keep a mind, an eye out for the amount of sevens that you read of in Revelation, whether it be the seven ecclesias. You can see the list I put up there. And some of them we'll be looking at in more detail in the upcoming weeks. You know, they're all fascinating, the seven seals on a scroll, the seven thunders, the seven vials, the seven blessings, the seven angels with seven bowls with the last seven plagues, the seven kingdom visions. That's one of the beautiful things with Revelation. As you're reading through the prophecy, no matter where you go, visions of the kingdom are always there. Remember that when you read it. Be comforted by it, the kingdom visions when you come upon them before you read on to the next prophecy. You know, everything in Revelation from the first kingdom vision which we'll look at next week, you know, through the whole prophecy, the whole book begins and ends with the vision of the kingdom. Vision of the kingdom. That's where God wants our mindset on the vision of the kingdom. The number seven, as we know, how important it is in Scripture associated with God completing creation. You know, it's probably the best known one that we can think of. You know, the seventh day, God created a day of rest and worship intending to fill the world with his glory. Other notable sevens, we have the Feast of Weeks, which was seven weeks between the barley and the full harvest and the year of release, which happened every seven years when the Israelites were to let the land alone, leave it fallow so it could rest. And slavery was removed for that year too, the year of release. And then there was the double sevens, the 49 years, every 49 years of jubilee, a joyous time of thanking God for all that he had done for his people. So seven plays a critical throughout the book of Revelation. You'll find references to the number seven. This is what he says in verse 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this people's heart is wax-gross, and their ears are dull of hearing. Their eyes they have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. And I think what he's saying in these verses, brothers and sisters, is that he speaks in parables to separate those who truly want to believe, truly want to learn more about it. And we're going to find out that Daniel and John had this in common. They wanted to understand the word of truth, the visions that were being shown in their heart. And we're going to see that John actually weeps over it, because he wants to understand it so badly. And I think Jesus speaks in parables to separate those people from those who, they say they want to do it, but don't really have an interest at the end of the day. And the beauty with Jesus' parables, as you know, is they're explained. He explains them to the disciples after he says them. Revelation, not so much. So that's one thing. If Jesus is going to explain to the disciples of his time what his parables mean, there's a way he's going to explain to us the book of Revelation and what it means. You know, you're not lost. There's a way. So don't let the symbolism, some of the words, get to you, you know, overcome. Old Testament background. We've got a few minutes left, so I want to start, at least start this today. Mentioned earlier, big focus on some of the Old Testament. You know, it picks up where Daniel leaves off, so let's take a quick look at Daniel. And you know this, so we're not going over anything new. We won't look it up, but Daniel chapter two, Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the dream of the big image, of the metal image. And we know that the fourth image that he sees, the one of iron, represents the Roman Empire. And in Daniel seven, Daniel sees four great beasts. And this fourth beast was diverse from the other beast. It was dreadful and it had iron teeth and nails of brass. And verse 19 gives us a linkage in Daniel chapter seven between the image of the iron image of Nebuchadnezzar's image and Daniel's image of this fourth beast. What happens in Revelation is this fourth beast. Now we all know the Roman Empire was still around and strong in John's time. This beast re-emerges in Revelation. And what you're reading about in Revelation, using I guess the only word I can think of, is the career of this fourth beast. The Roman Empire dominates Revelation. And it's the career of this beast, and this picture isn't the best I could find, but that beast in Daniel becomes the beast of Revelation. And you see it through stages of its life, the way it forms and it shapes and it changes, and becomes more apostate over time. And that's basically the beast of Revelation that you're reading about, is the beast of Daniel in its lifespan, its career, up until the time of Christ. Any thoughts or comments there before I finish off with this slide? You guys are awfully quiet. You're either getting a good siester in or it all makes sense and you're all, all right, that's good. And this will be the last verse we look up, Daniel chapter 12. And I do want to go to it with the few minutes that I have left, because it's a fascinating chapter, one that's probably beyond me to explain fully, but there's some keys here that we wish that I need to pull out. Daniel's given this great vision in Daniel chapter 12. And it starts off, you know, speaking of the time of the end, where Michael shall stand up in verse 1, the great prince, which standeth for the children of thy people. And there'll be times of trouble, but there'll also be, verse 2, them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament at the coming of Christ and the establishment of the kingdom. And in verse 4, and this is really what I want to get to, Daniel's told to shut up the book, close it, seal it, to the time of the end. And then Daniel has this vision of two men on either side of a river speaking to a man, an angel, that is above the river. And he asks them, they're asking, when are these times going to come? You know, Daniel's been told to seal the book. When will the time become when I'll know these things? Look at verse 9. Daniel's told, go thy way, for the words are closed and sealed till the time of the end. Daniel really wanted to know. He couldn't understand what was going on. But you could almost feel the, tell me, I want to know. But he's told to seal the book up. So when is this time of the end that the book will be sealed until? And I think this time of the end was AD 70, the end of Gentile times. And the reason I think that is, one, because if it was the end, the end, when Christ is returned and God is all in all, then it's too late for the book to be unsealed, right? Things have already happened. After AD 70, you know, Jerusalem's destroyed. It's the end of Jewish times, and it's the time with Gentiles reigning. And what happens in 96 AD, sometime shortly after, John's given the vision of Revelation. And look what we read in Revelation 5. And this speaks to the power and the importance of this book. Revelation 5, I'm going to read five verses, if you don't mind. This is what happens. I saw in the right hand of him, right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof? No man on heaven nor on earth, neither under the earth, were able to open the book, neither to look thereon. This made John cry. He wept, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look therein. And then one proclaims, there is one from the tribe of Judah who is worthy, and he will open the book. So we have here in Revelation 5 the return of the book, of the scroll. And the Lamb, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is the one who is now worthy to open it and to show forth the remaining visions, the remaining revelation of God's plan that was ended at the time of Daniel. And we're going to leave off there just to give our presider some time. Any thoughts or questions on that? I find that powerful. And next week, beginning of the class, we'll take a quick look at some amazing connections between Daniel and John. And then we'll go on to look at the first kingdom vision, which is found in Revelation 1.