This morning we begin a. Study of the Apocalypse of Saint
John the Divine. It is really a picture of Jesus
Christ in his person and in his works.
We won't. Find anything in the Book of
Revelation that is not taught explained.
Preached, prophesied. And prefigured in all the.
Books that go ahead of John. It's the very last book in the
New Testament and we will be looking at the.
Particulars of the book probably through the year, past advent,
even maybe going. Toward Easter.
So if you're not interested in this book at all, you can come
and get some of. Your best sleep on a Sunday
morning here in this quiet little Chapel.
But if you're interested, I think it's going to be a
fascinating study. For us, I really do.
Please stand if you went for the reading of the word Revelation,
chapter one, verse one. What we're reading here is
what's sometimes called the prologue.
John, the writer. Of this book is also the one who
wrote. The Gospel of John And we also
find in the Gospel of John what? A prologue to the Gospel You
know the Gospel of John is. Rich in what John tells us.
Just in the prologue. And so it is here in the
Apocalypse as well. Here now the Word of God, the
revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to.
Show to his servants the things that must soon take.
Place he made it known by sending his Angel.
To the servant John, who bore witness to the word of God into
the testimony. Of Jesus Christ, even to all
that He saw, Blessed is the. One who reads aloud the words of
this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and keep what is
written in it for the. Time is near John to the Seven.
Churches that are in Asia. Grace to you, and peace from him
who is and who was and who is to come, and from the Seven.
Spirits who are before his throne and from Jesus.
Christ the faithful witness the 1st.
Born of the dead and the ruler of the kings on earth to him who
loves us. And his freed us from our sins
by his blood, and made us a Kingdom.
Priest to his God, and Father to him be glory.
And dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he is coming with the. Clouds and every I will see him
even. Those who pierced him and all
the tribes of the earth shall wail on account of him Even so.
Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega.
Says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come the
Almighty. I John your brother and partner
in the. Tribulation and the Kingdom and
the patient endurance that are in Jesus was on the island
called Patmas on account of the word of.
God in the testimony of Jesus. I was in the.
Spirit on the Lord's day. And I heard him behind, and I
heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet, saying, write
what you see in a book and send it.
To the seven churches, to emphasis, to Smyrna and to
Pergamum, to fire a tyrant, to Sardis into Philadelphia, and to
lay Doicia, the Word. Of the Lord you may be seated.
And word apocalypse. Sometimes it's.
A scary word because of so much of A.
Connotation that we've seen in the last century or so in our
literature and then our apocalyptic imagery.
Bear in mind something as we. Read and study in this Book of
Revelation for the next few weeks.
Audio visual technology. It's only been with us about
120. Think about that.
It's a 20th and 21st century phenomenon.
Now you. Can go into a theater and you
can sit there and if it's raining on the screen, you'll
feel the mist. In your face, and if the things
are turning upside down, you'll feel like you've been turned
upside down. And you'll see the monster.
Coming straight at you with a with an incredible speed and
you'll think that you've just been swallowed.
By the monster. The technology, the audio visual
technology that's taken place, the massive.
Things that are done just in the old days in analog and now in
digital, it's just phenomenal. And we've really been kind.
Of had our minds messed with and I'm.
Afraid they're probably still trying to figure out ways to
mess with our minds, even. More with modern audio visual
technology, there was none of this stuff.
In the ancient world and none of this stuff even in.
Our world for 19 centuries since Christ.
Everything had to be either portrayed physically or it was a
part of a mental image. A vision.
There was no mediation of technology that could.
Do that for us. So what we have in.
This piece of literature, which is in his final analysis as we
read in the text, is a book. The Lord told the Apostle to
take what he saw. The Lord was going to show him
visions. And he was to take what he saw,
bear in mind. You and I don't see it.
John saw it, and the Lord told him.
To reduce it to writing, that is, put it in a scroll, put it
in a book. And the Book of Revelation, 22
chapters long in our text, is among the very.
Longest books in the new. And it it it makes a pretty nice
folio by itself. And to put that in a book, so
John? We don't see.
John writes it down in. The words that we read and
that's what we do, but we don't. Collectively, necessarily read
it. It was read in the churches and
the people heard it. They didn't see it.
People sitting where you are in in one of these original ancient
churches. Sitting where you are, you
didn't see the vision. You didn't write it down.
You didn't even read it. You heard the words.
That's all you had. That's all you need.
Faith comes by. Hearing and hearing by the Word
of God, and so the dynamic that matches God's.
To our auditing and our. Hearing is the bridge that we'll
be working with this whole time, these dramatic.
Scenes will be portrayed. John saw them.
He wrote them down. This is a, not only an.
Apocalyptic writing. This is not only a.
Prophecy, that is, things that are too shortly come to pass.
But this is also a letter. It's just like the letter that
Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, or the letter that Paul wrote to
the Corinthians of the Romans. Or any other letter.
It has an epistolary form. It is greetings are sent to
these churches. There's a particular audience,
just like. Paul sent to the Corinthians,
the Thessalonians, the Romans. This is sent to the seven
churches of Asia Minor. They're on the Far East
Mediterranean. They have a particular audience
that will be hearing these words and so this is the dynamic of
the. Of the book, and the
interpretation of the book and the understanding of the book
must. Never forget that dynamic, that
these are visions and they're visions that describe, not.
Only visual imagery, but auditory imagery as well.
They're Speaking of lightnings and and and images and beasts
and individuals and people and animals and all sorts.
Of things. But there's also in in there
things that are not just visual butter, butter, auditory things
like thundering and peels of Thunder and.
Voices and trumpets. And so that also influences our
hermeneutic, that is the. Way we interpret the scripture.
Now this prologue, I'm just going to walk through it this
morning. That's what we have time for,
but it's. Worth it because it sets the
stage. It's amazing how many things.
In this book are are the stage is set by this particular this
particular passage, the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The revelation is the word apocalypse and what it means.
It means an unveiling it. Means really to pull out of
hiding and set alongside. To pull it out of hiding,
ironically. A lot of people think that the
Book of Revelation itself is so cryptic and so mysterious that
the Book of Revelation itself is kind of the hiding of the
message. But it's not.
This is the Revelation. This is what has.
Brought out of hiding that which God wants us and openly
revealing, it's a. Picture of a curtain being
pulled back. And being able to see the the
thing that the Lord wants us to see and this.
Is It's a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Don't ever forget that any place you're reading.
In the Book of Revelation, you're not too far from
something if you're not right on it.
You're not too far from something having to do with
Jesus Christ. I've heard incredible
interpretations of the Book of Revelation.
If you were raised like I was on the Schofield Bible at Schofield
Church, then you saw all kinds. Of things in there, you know
tanks and horses and all kinds of battle implement and on and
on and on some of that. May or may not be there.
Remember the point of the book. Is to reveal, to uncover, to
bring out of hiding, to bring to the center.
Stage and to pull the curtain back and to reveal in all glory
is Jesus Christ. It's the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It's about Jesus Christ, and
it's from Jesus. This is John who made Jesus
known in his gospel. The Word became flesh and dwelt
among us and we. Beheld his glory.
Now John wants us to. Hear the revelation, and the
Lord has impressed all this upon him, and put him in.
The place where he can do it. It's a revelation of Jesus
Christ. Which God gave This comes from
God, and you'll see. That God is spelled out here in
this very introduction as a triune God, God the Father, God
the Son. And God, the Holy Spirit, One
God in essence. 3 distinct persons and they are each
manifested. Throughout the throughout the
book, together and individually, you'll see so.
God gave this revelation to John.
But it wasn't for John to consume it.
It was for John to transmit. It, it says, to show his
servants the thing that must soon take place.
That show where show means to demonstrate to pageant to set.
Forth in a parade to make it known.
Some people think the. Book of Revelation is to hide
things, but it's not. It's right, the opposite.
It's to make. Great truths about God and his
Son, Jesus Christ, and the workings of God in human history
and the the, the. Point to which all things
travel, That is the great Escatan, the Great last.
Day and even the final. Eternal state we see in the.
Last couple of chapters in The new Heavens and the New Earth
with the new. Jerusalem coming down and all of
the pictures that are there. It's it's to reveal, it's to
show, and it's interesting, he said.
To show his servants the point of revelation.
Is not to fascinate the theologians.
Although it does, but it's to show every everyday Christian
some very important things that we need to.
Know and they're spelled out here.
In just a minute, let me move along to to see.
That to show things that soon must take place and we'll.
Talk about it when we get to these particular places.
What is being? Shown here that is taking place
that we can understand what God. Has for us.
But the immediacy of this prophecy to its fulfillment must
not be underestimated. There's some.
Sense in which? Whatever John saw.
And whatever God gave him. To reveal to us to his servants,
His bond, servants, His people, was not something was going to.
Happen millennia later and something that was.
Soon to take place and we're going to see.
Very soon in some of the. Things that we see in the Book
of Revelation took take place very soon that things that must
soon take place. And by the way, this, this
language here you remember when we studied Daniel a year or two
ago. Daniel Chapter 2.
When, when that. Long chapter that deals with the
vision that Nebuchadnezzar. Had and that Daniel came in to.
Interpret when the other soothsayers and the other
prophets and. Spiritual men in the Kingdom
couldn't interpret the dream and Daniel interpreted.
The dream for Nebuchadnezzar. This same language is used and
some believe it's just a. Pretty much of A direct
quotation. What Daniel did for
Nebuchadnezzar, John is doing for.
That is opening it up, making it known.
And he's did this by sending his Angel.
To his servant John. And the word Angel just simply
means a. And just like in the book of
Daniel, we saw the word Angel can be.
A ministering spirit, and we think of the supernatural work
of angels, the part of God's created order that bring
messages with archangels and all of that.
Can be that at times the Angel can be.
Just a messenger. That's all the word means.
In fact, I think that's what it means when we come to the
cerebral churches. It'll say to the Angel at
Ephesus, right to the Angel at Smyrna, right, and the Angel.
Could just be the messenger and some have understood.
That to just be the minister, the one who brings the word the
people didn't have a copy. In their in their pews they had
the word of the. Messenger and the Messenger of
God to the individual churches were those elders and those men
that God had consecrated. To be his his spokesman, but it
also at times. The word Angel can mean nothing
more than an emissary that's come forth to do something, and
that can be even. Applied to Jesus himself, the
Angel of the. Lord in the Old Testament kind
of a. An interesting figure you see in
several places in the book of Joshua.
And and other places is an example of this sort.
Of thing. So the Angel is God's messenger.
There may be one, they may be many, They may be manifold.
But this is the the method of. Delivery that God uses when God.
Delivers a message. He has a messenger.
And that's what. He's saying here he sent his
Angel. To his servant John, the same
word is used. The servant is the bond slave of
John. Now let me.
Stop here real quick. I think I know that most of you
know all this, so I'm kind of. Hitting it lightly, but this
John is John the Divine John. This is the Apostle John.
This is the. Brother of James, you remember
James was the one. Of the very first members of the
early church to be a martyred. Under King Herod.
And he was martyred his brother. These are the sons of Zebedee.
These are the two boys that argued over who was going to be
the greatest and who was going to sit on the left and who was
going to sit on the right. James and John.
These are the fishermen that, along with Peter and Andrew,
fished. The Sea of Galilee for a living
for years. That's who this is.
James died early. First apostle, Apparently John
is the last. Apostle to die.
Jesus had made reference to that in the Gospel of John.
We read about it, and he has. Outlived all of them.
Outlived Andrew. Outlived Peter.
Outlived all the other apostles, and he alone.
Remains as the last apostle, and he's the one.
That the Lord gives this particular revelation to.
This is the disciple that Jesus loved.
This is the the Apostle John and the reason I mentioned that and
just. Leave it at.
That is because everything I'm saying.
Up here every indicative sentence that I try to.
Construct is disputed, debated, denied 15 reasons.
For and 10 reasons against that interpretation.
So be aware of that and take it into your own soul.
And work with it. But this this is the way you
know. All I know is.
To preach what I think I know. You know what I.
Understand after looking at it and something so.
We're we're looking at that John, not some John.
Later on in in in Church history in the 2nd century, but this is
a 1st century John and it's a. 1st century composition.
And this is John, who bore witness.
To the Word of God, into the testimony of Jesus, Even to.
All that he saw. If you're familiar with John's
writing, you know he makes. Much of those two words
testimony and witness, he insists in his letter that he
was an. Eyewitness to the glory of the
Son of. God in his earthly ministry, we
saw. Him we beheld him, our hands
have handled him the word of life.
This idea of eyewitness testimony being able.
To to properly witness and then to verify and then to bear
witness, to testify about it, are very important in the mind
of John. It's also very important in the
mind of any. Gospel Writer.
And it's important even today that be.
Faithful witness. Good, accurate, eyewitness
testimony. That so much of.
What we believe hangs on the testimony.
Of the witnesses. The witnesses to Jesus, The
witness to his His His life, The witnesses to His resurrection.
Especially the witnesses to his post resurrection appearances,
the the 500 brethren that that saw him alive.
After his crucifixion, so this notion.
Of bearing witness is famous and.
Important and large in the mind. Of the Apostolic community, and
certainly to this John, even after.
All these years he wants to make sure that we have this and.
Then there is a benediction that's given a blessing.
Blessed is the one Who. Reads aloud the words of this
prophecy. You can read any of the pastoral
pistols, and Paul will make a big deal out of the importance
of reading scripture in the congregation among the.
People, we did a good job of that this morning.
We read a lot of scripture. It's a shame we don't read more
scripture. Publicly in our worship
services, but the blessing is to the one.
Who does this? Who reads aloud the words of
this prophecy? And blessed are those who hear.
And as you know, the word here in the ancient Hebrew thinking
also meant. To obey, To hear something is to
obey it. My dad used to say that to me
every once in a while when I was younger.
Did you hear me? He.
Well, yeah, I heard him. I just didn't.
I just didn't do what he just told me to do.
I hadn't obeyed him. Well, this is what what the
blessing is for. It's not for those.
That just just audit the the word of God.
But it's those who keep what is written in it.
Why? Because it's practical, it's
immediate. It's urgent.
It is imminent for the time. Is near now.
That's one of the concepts in the New Testament that you've
got to get your hands around and kind of get a good grip on him
that. Is the the actual cosmic timing?
Of the New Testament era. The Bible in the Old Testament
and then coming into the New only.
Knows 2 epochs of time. The former days and the latter
days? The former days or the days
before the coming of Christ? To earth and the latter days are
the last days are the days since.
Christ has appeared. So when Christ came, he
preached. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
It is near and in the mind. Of the the the biblical
perspective is that everything that's happened since Christ
came to earth and had his earthly ministry and did.
His work, Death Barrel, Resurrection, and so forth.
Since the appearance of Christ on earth in the flesh.
In his salvific work, everything is in the last day, so Jesus was
living. In the last days, so was Paul.
So was John some? Decades later, so were we.
There's no last. Days of the last days.
The last days are the last days, and everything there is near
imminent at hand. And about to take place and I.
Admit it's a problem when you think about good goodness, Ron.
It's been 2000 years. We got to have some kind of
timing in there and break that up into some certain ages, you
know, a church age or an age of grand, all these different ages
that is in my mind. Completely bogus when it comes
to trying to put something like little.
There's only two epochs of time the.
Former days and the latter days, and we're in the latter days and
everything that the Old Testament Saints talked.
About the prophets, and all of them did about the latter days
were things that take place during that last days, which is
the age of Christ, the age of fulfillment, the age of the
Kingdom it's the coming of. Christ, everything Christ did
while he was here. Everything Christ is doing now
by His Spirit as He reigns with His people upon the.
Heavenly throne for century after century as it's turned
out, and all the way, all the way to the Eskaton the last day.
So we're in the last days now, John.
Was in the last days as well, people that try to.
Subdivide and to project and telescope and.
Whatever else, Mountain. Peak or whatever else they talk
about are really starting Starting to warp scripture a
little bit in my estimation. Just take that for what it's
worth. That's where you'll you'll be
really helped when you hear the scripture talk about the notion
of eminence. Something is here.
It's at hand. The Kingdom of God was at hand
when Jesus came and preached it. It's at hand today.
As well, equally and the same and epochs of time.
The characteristics of the Epoch of Time.
All remain the same. We are in the post Resurrection
and Ascended. Era of God's work with his
people. God's not done.
He's not. Through there are other things
yet to take. Place they're more to be
fulfilled. One of the great.
Arguments that Orthodox Jews and others make against Christianity
is it. The Old Testament says all this
stuff. Jesus is going to do when he
comes, including. Establishing this massive
Kingdom, subjecting all the people, bringing about a rule in
a reign of righteousness, settling justice, settling all
accounts and. Affairs, judging right,
Assigning blame and assigning condemnation and.
All these things and they just said they say simply that like
Tovia Singer and some of the really famous Jesus didn't.
Do that. Jesus didn't do any of that.
So he really wasn't the Christ, was he?
He really wasn't the Son of God, was he?
And so they make that strong argument.
Well, God's not done. He is in the midst.
Of the years in his work with us, who are strapped in time.
Well, I see I've gone way too long on that.
Here's how I'm going to make it up to you.
I'm just going to. Give you bare outline material.
This is a letter. He writes it to the seven
churches. He says.
Grace and peace and then. There is several groupings of
threes, and let's just notice those and then we're done from
him. Come to greeting and peace is
coming from him. Who is, who was and who is to
come? That's the scope of history.
It's hard to find a. One moment of history outside of
those categories. Something that was something it
is and something it is to come. The Almighty, the Sovereign over
over creation, and from the seven spirits who are before the
throne. In our reading to this morning,
we talked about the seven. Torches before the throne, The
seven spirits? Well, we're going to get into
biblical imagery. It's going to be a lot of fun,
but I'll just tip you. Off right now that this is a
reference to the perfect 7. Perfect Spirit of God who is of
course we know. As the Holy Spirit of God that
is manifested in this way. And from Jesus, three things
faithful witness first, born of the dead, that's the
resurrection and the ruler of the kings of the earth, That's
what Jesus has has done. And so there's the three things.
By the way, those are lifted out of this of Psalm 89.
The 89 Psalm speaks of all of. Those things.
The faithful witness the first born of the dead and the root of
the kings of the earth. Now that's from and now it's to
him. All things are from him, by him
and to him. And through him Paul tells us in
his doxologies, well, this doxology says to him who loves
us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a
Kingdom. Of Priest.
There's another three right there.
Three things that Jesus has done, He has.
Freed us, he's loosed us. He's redeemed us from our sins
by his blood. There's even John keeps on
talking about the blood atonement of.
Christ, by the way, made us a Kingdom.
Of priests. This is a quotation from Exodus
19, which we saw too many weeks. Ago Where?
The Lord said he is going to make us a Kingdom of.
Priests, a royal priesthood and we would have those two
anointed. Offices bestowed upon us in the
person of our King and our High. Priest Jesus.
But then we will share in the in that work and you'll see.
See Revelation talking about reigning with Christ.
That's because we are a Kingdom. Of priests, and then to his.
Father to him, be glory and dominion forever.
So you've seen the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in this
passage. And then he goes ahead and and
and finishes that. Verse eight, I'm the Alpha and
the Omega. That's the beginning and the
end. That's the 1st, and the last is
the Lord God who is. And it talks about the
historical spectrum again, who is, who was and who is to come,
the Almighty. It's.
Not just about God's existence, but it's God's power.
Almighty is the, is the. Comprehensive term in theology
that talks about. The extent of the capability of
God and that. Involves creation of the whole
world. The Providence, the ruling God
is mighty to save He's. Mighty to do all of these things
and then. We've talked a little bit,
pretty pretty much about John. Here, let me just point out a
couple of things. John says.
He is our brother and partner in three things in the tribulation
and the Kingdom and the patient Endurance.
Ron, are we? On the Tribulation, when do you
think the tribulations is going to happen?
We're in it, brothers and sisters, and we're also When do
you think the Kingdom of God is going to happen?
We're in it, brothers and sisters, Christ inaugurated at
his first come. He's ruling and reigning in one
way and he will rule and reign in a more.
Complete and absolute way we'll we'll look and expect that.
But then, here's the important thing.
This is the practical application of this whole
passage. He's a brother and a partner
with us. John is impatient endurance.
Hyper Monet words used over and over the book of Hebrews over
and over the New Testament. And it basically means that it.
Is those that patiently undergo and bear up under a tribulation,
and that is the story of the Saints on earth in the
interadvental. The Interadvent is the comings
of Christ, the First Coming, the Second Coming.
This whole period of time in the interadvent is a time of
tribulation, and it is a. Time of the Saints patiently
enduring, bearing under surviving, trusting in the Lord.
And then he talks about everything pretty much we've
already talked about here in terms of him being in prison on
an island. He is there because of his
preaching. And his teaching, he's bearing
witness and they put him in jail and so he said.
He was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and he heard this,
this voice. It was a trumpet voice.
It was the Lord himself saying to write a book and to do all
that that we talked about in terms of writing it down.
So that it could be read in the churches, so that it could tell
us what we needed to know in order to see with the eye of
faith Jesus Christ. Brother Pete, see what you can
do in 7 minutes. That's all.
I'll let you.