we have been just starting now the book of Revelation we started a little bit of an introduction on Sunday if you are with us and basically we we looked at sort of this blessing that comes with the book we also took a look at just the who the author of this book as we know it's the revelation of Jesus Christ and that's why your titles sometimes are maybe a little misleading if you have like the King James Version where it says the revelation of st. John the Divine I didn't go into why they called him to the divine that much but there was sort of a propensity to call a theologian someone who was a divine expert or whatever some say that's where it came from not that John was deity as much but even the name I would never go for that and I'm pretty sure John would never go for it as well John would probably run in here so they don't call me divine ever and that's that's the problem with that it was just the 1611 guys put that in there and said that that'd be a nice title but the title really should be just the first five words of this book the revelation of Jesus Christ that's that that tells us right there what the title should be it's it's kind of what we went over a little bit it's also remembered not the Book of Revelations if you call it the Book of Revelations you're signaling us that you're a tourist that you don't know the book of Revelation because it really is a singular revelation that was given by God the Father to Jesus Christ then to reveal to John the Apostle so that all of his servants that's us could receive it and he would write this down he was told to write this down the vision that God would give to him the revelation of Jesus Christ that would be written down so that all of us could see that and we'll see that as we as we get into this even a little bit further one thing I'd like to say if you're maybe a pre-trib post-trib our millennial or preterist or different views one of the great parts of the book of Revelation it's not just about the timing of the rapture of the church in fact the book of Revelation deals primarily with the second coming of Christ don't don't be confused that the rapture of the church is not the second coming sometimes I think people sort of used that terminology all interchangeably but it's not the first coming the first Advent was when Jesus was born in Bethlehem lying in a manger that was the first coming that was Emmanuel God with us the first Advent whatever you want to call it and then the second coming is when he's gonna come as a king who's conquering the ruler and the rayner the one who's gonna really subdue the nations and rule and reign for a millennial kingdom and that's what really the book of Revelation will lead up to the sort of the the pinnacle of the book gets to where Christ returns that's the second coming of Christ the rapture the church I believe is sort of hinted at and indicated we'll talk about that as we go and I'll give some of the reasons why I believe the raptures can happen before the Tribulation Period I'll get into that but just to remind reminder that it's a friendly discussion and a lot of people have different views on Bible prophecy and one of the reasons that that's okay is because of the nature of prophecy itself and I want to stress that point we mention it on Sunday but I'd like to remind you here on Wednesday night that the nature of prophecy is somewhat of a moving target so it's a little harder to hit we we know that when the Bible tells us that the words were sealed up for Daniel but then they would not be sealed up at the end of the book of Revelation we talked a little bit about that and that prophecy is one of those things that will start to be known the closer we get to it it's almost like there's there's been much that's been hidden from our understanding hidden from our eyes to be able to really get the whole thing and as the world events unfold the signs of the times that Jesus told us to look for we're seeing those signs very much as indicators and that's going to be a key even for tonight's study the signs of the times very important and so when you go through the book of Revelation don't forget that it really is a book of prophecy whether you want to admit it or not some people say oh it's prophecies it's already been passed so it's only devotional it's only allegorical and there are good people who believe the book of Revelation is only allegory now by the way one of the cool things about the book of Revelation is metaphor and simile are used but many times simile that is when when the author uses like or as we're gonna see that even in chapter 1 where you know when it says Jesus's eyes are as a flaming fire the word as there's an indicator that he's speaking in sort of an image it's not that Jesus has flaming eyeballs literally that when he comes it's gonna be firing out of the eyeballs I see artists try to depict the Book of Revelations images and it's an ugly horriffic picture and I've never seen a good one done because it's not meant to be painted I don't believe it's it's more of a notion than his eyes are gonna be you've seen people have fiery eyes they're there they're bold and they're perhaps even looking right through you the word fire also is indication of judgment and even wrath and I believe the first time Christ came he looked at humanity with great compassion as he wept over Jerusalem as he literally would weep over humanity but the next time Christ comes and when we see him we're gonna see him as with a little different tone and a little different attitude if you if you'd even call it that but don't be confused by the simile that's used or the examples versus the literal and we have to kind of discern what is being spoken of literally and what is purposefully symbolic or painting a picture for us so those are some of the keys to understanding the book of Revelation we're gonna get into why the book of Revelation is not as difficult as people make it but that's probably gonna come next week but I'd like to get into this let's let's dive right in Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John so as we get into this first the revelation of Jesus Christ now remember we talked a little bit about this on Sunday which God gave to him the pronoun there him is referring back to Jesus Christ the revelation of Jesus Christ which God that would be God the Father this is where we see the Trinity by the way in the in the scriptures at least the two parts in this verse of the Holy Trinity and maybe three some people see that in the angel that's spoken of at the end of verse one but that might be a stretch don't know but God the Father is going to reveal to Jesus Christ something now this raises the intriguing question doesn't it does Jesus know everything and the newer Christian would say well yeah Jesus knows everything right he's God so he knows everything but but what we have to realize is there's evidence that Jesus when he put aside as godliness and became a man made himself of no reputation took upon himself the form of a servant and became obedient even to the death of the cross when Jesus did that like Philippians 2 tells us he in essence gave up his divinity and also his divine power to a degree now you gotta understand this Jesus told us that we would do greater things and we even saw him do why how could that even be possible well it's it's easy when you understand that the Holy Spirit which is God worked through Jesus which is God and did powerful things for Jesus Christ the dead were raised the blind see there were healings there were there was powerful words spoken obviously Jesus was was Jesus you think well that's just him we can't do that but Jesus said that's not true and the reason for that is is really quite profound is when you think that we have access to the power of the Holy Spirit that's one of the things I fear that the church diminishes these days because of all the Hootin and Hollerin and swinging from the chandeliers you know the holy rollers that you know speak in tongues all the time out of and get into kind of craziness a lot of the church that says man that's just a bunch of weirdness so we don't want that but man don't throw the baby out with the bathwater it's so to speak you know it's like we can we're gonna kind of just just sort of get rid of the Holy Spirit because we don't like the weirdness of it but I don't believe there's anything weird about the Holy Spirit it's Hollywood that puts the weirdness in the Jesus movies especially this most recent one I'm sorry but no more I've seen of it the more makes me want to throw up I'm just sorry if you love it I'm sorry but it's totally biblically whacked in a lot of areas they leave out key key things why do you have to tamper with something that's perfect you know what I mean like it's the Word of God why not just do it like it really says it wouldn't be that hard from what they did just kind of do it like the scriptures say but I'm not gonna get off on that bandwagon that much tonight but the Holy Spirit does in fact come upon his church and that word coming upon that's that third relationship we have the Holy Spirit with us before we were saved we have the Holy Spirit in us once we become Christians but the church there in Acts chapter two was they were waiting for that coming upon experience of the Holy Spirit where the tongues of fire were over their heads and you know the rushing wind that came blowing through and and that's when Peter spoke with power he preached the sermon where 3,000 people were saved in one day and that's where you know there's a supernaturally natural movement of the Holy Spirit I don't believe we have spinning heads and green vomit that's the Hollywood version I don't believe we have to quiver with our voices I've been able to hold on do weird things we don't have to have crowds falling over where is that in the Bible the only time you see people falling over where God knocks them down as they're sinners who need to be saved it's not the Church of Jesus Christ that's falling and gyrating like worms on the on the floor that's not biblical that's not even in the Bible anywhere so be cautious search the Scriptures and let's get the real Jesus let's let's let's try to get the real picture of who Jesus Christ is and not the Hollywood version that's what revelation by the way will do for us it will give us a beautiful portrait painting picture of Jesus Christ it's the revelation of Jesus Christ I'm so thankful for this book for that reason it's in fact I would even argue this more than pre-trib post-trib all millennial preterists or whatever the the you know view you embrace more than that the the point of this book is prophetically to point to Jesus Christ and is coming but in so doing we're going to learn a lot about Jesus it's all about Jesus it's so fun so people to say it's not about prophecy it's all about just Jesus well you got to include the prophecy because it's saying it's it's spoken of that in verse three we'll see that it's called a book of prophecy so you can't deny that but in the prophecy we're gonna see the revelation of Jesus Christ so Jesus now back to God revealing something the word revelation if you remember from Sunday it means to unveil apocalypse ace the greek word is for revelation and it means to unveil to reveal even as a bride is unveiled at a wedding and so this is an unveiling of jesus christ is what you can really say i love that about the book of revelation will see jesus more clearly but but why would God the Father have to reveal anything to Jesus first and the answer I believe is quite simple especially when it comes to end times things in fact jot this down in your notes mark 13:32 it says but of that day and that hour knoweth no man no not the angels which are in heaven neither the son but the father who said that Jesus said that Jesus is saying men nobody knows the day or the hour of the second coming of Christ the Lord is saying of my own second coming only the father in heaven knows that so that's the the part of God's being that was the eternal God in heaven but when God became a man separated that somehow we don't know how the mystery of the Trinity and it goes out time outside of time-space physics in fact maybe even within physics once we start studying dimensions and and some of the different things that Einstein started to play around with and now scientists are starting to understand that we really don't understand very much big shock but what's great is somehow in all that God became a man and and in so doing Jesus put aside his knowledge and that's why we know that when he was born in Bethlehem he didn't lay in that manger knowing all things because there was a progression in his knowledge and is learning in fact Luke chapter 2 verse 52 is where we read that Jesus grew in stature and in what wisdom or knowledge yep that's right and and and so how can the one who knows all things grow in knowledge it's because Jesus the hint there is that he didn't know now here's some other things you got to be aware of on this one atheists like to tear the Bible apart if you go to some atheist bloggers where they're blogging away about blasting at the Bible one of the things you'll come across is stuff like this this is the this is the stuff atheist love to do Jesus did he know everything and all the all the Christian bloggers yeah Jesus knows everything and so then they say well what about when Jesus was touched by the woman with the issue of blood and he turned around said who touched me and Jesus didn't know so Jesus doesn't know everything all the Christians on the Internet are quivering in their little tent he's wondering about how Jesus doesn't know everything it's really kind of goofy quite frankly and in so many levels it's pretty painful the first thing is I'll give it to the Atheist Jesus didn't claim to know everything in fact when he became man he put aside some of that and I believe as he grew and got older he knew more and more but even the story of the woman yeah I do have a hunch Jesus probably knew who she was but that wasn't the point the point was he wanted to talk with her even though she touched him she was healed but we learned as you read the rest of that story she was not whole she still had something that she needed and Jesus wanted to talk to her says who is it and I believe he wanted her to confess to him that she was the one who touched him is all part of his plan it's kind of like back in the Garden of Eden you can even say God doesn't know everything why won't you remember when Adam and Eve sinned and ate of the fruit of the guard and there they hidden the bushes and God says where are you guys did God lose out of an EVE Oh No I created two people and I've lost them there are the earth somewhere can somebody help me is that what God did no the ideas God knew exactly what Adam and Eve had done he knew where they were hiding quivering behind the bush naked Lee there they were and God wasn't really saying where are you guys like I've lost you but he was saying where are you guys like where you at man what are you doing why are you hiding from me giving Adam and Eve a chance to confess before him their wrongdoing so all this stuff usually these atheists that get online and start saying God doesn't know everything because it didn't know we're out of any work it's really not understanding the whole purpose and point of the story and the nature of God you got to read the whole Bible and you got to get to know who God is and what his nature is and then you start to understand the things that and by the way do you ever know this is kind of a trick that my dad taught me when I was growing up but he would talk to people on a job site and and he would act like he didn't know certain things have you seen that this is a tool for the smarter people in the world you dumb people it's gonna be a big news flash for you guys this is why I had to learn it because I was one of those but there there's people there's certain kinds of people who come into this mix and they'll start acting and talking to you and you're just telling them everything you know you're giving them every little speck of information your little brain holds but the fact is there's certain people that know how to talk and and and to put stuff on a back burner and not say I know all this stuff and I'm a smarty pants and and it gives you the chance to kind of know where where a person is at what a person's what their breadth and depth and length and height of their knowledge really is I remember watching that on the job site so so my dad do you know how to hang that dress up there and do this with without dropping the whole trust and breaking it well yeah the job guys construction guys are funny they know everything and then and then the guy would would reveal his really is not lack of understanding and then my dad would say well actually let me suggest what about this idea and almost make it look like this guy comes up with the idea and it's amazing how that worked for a watching my dad he knew long before he ever revealed that he knew anything I believe that's kind of God's nature God he wants us to confess to him because it's good for us he wants to us us to commune with him and to talk with him so that so that then it gives us that chance to sort of reveal what we really don't know and then when the Lord comes in with truth or we marvel we think wow he's all-wise and he really does know everything that's part of the nature of God so I love that about the Bible the more you get to know God the more you know his nature and and how he reveals his truth and so that's really what we're doing here God is revealing to Jesus Christ the the truth of Jesus and ultimately it'll get to John the Apostle who will mark this down so Jesus that's amazing when you think about he went through a life of learning that's radical if you ask me so the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him Jesus to show unto his servants that's us the things which must shortly come to pass now now that's the second part of this that we really need to kind of camp out on shortly John wrote this almost 2,000 years ago wrote the vision of the book of Revelation on paper so you say breath that just didn't happen the Bible failed right there it's shortly um and and by the way this is one of the main arguments that I've heard from those that say the Book of Revelations already come to pass and it was also pretty much in the lifetime of John when all this would come down and there are those who would say ad 70 when Jerusalem was sacked by Titus the Roman general that basically this is all about that so that prophecy has already come to pass so the book of Revelation is really not for us today that's how some churches get away with just saying we're gonna blow off revelation and and then they will use this very first verse as they see it's the things which must shortly come to pass so it must not be talking about the future events of the end times now that's if you ask me fairly short-sighted when you read book of Revelation because the things we're gonna read are global and it's very clearly global when the Sun gets darkened and the moon is out of commission and stars fall from heaven and the earth and islands are gonna cease to exist in the ocean these are some big things and it wasn't just Jerusalem ad 70 when I don't know what if any Islands that disappeared with the exception of Atlantis maybe know that what what is John saying the scope is global when we read the book of Revelation but really all one needs to do when they say shortly that just hasn't happened well you look at the Greek word and and I do find the Greek in Hebrew helpful I'm not a Greek or Hebrew scholar but I'll tell you there's many who are and I sure appreciate the work that they've done because they like to point out words that sometimes we miss a little bit in the English translation and by the way don't don't take this too don't take the Greek in the Hebrew thing too far if you believe that people can't come to the truth unless they know Greek or Hebrew then you're mistaken I believe the Lord has given us great translations and you can get all the doctrine that you need to be a Christian saved by the grace of God with the great English translations we've been given so don't don't be a hyper Greek or Hebrew that I think that's a mistake but if it's helpful then that's good the word for shortly is one that you hotrod people will recognize it'll make a little more sense to some of you mechanically inclined people and that is when he says that the Lord will come quickly it's two words in the Greek and tacos you're like yeah I'm hungry man tacos sound good right now no in tacos it's a it's a the Greek word tacos where we get our word tachometer and it has to do not with just something that's going to happen tomorrow a tachometer doesn't really tell you anything about tomorrow or how quickly something's going to happen but it has to do with revolutions per minute right rpms the revving of an engine that's the idea it's it's more of a process and not as much a day or a time its quickness speed and rapidity is the idea so when the word tacos is used in the Greek it's it's it's really employing something that's revving or ramping now that's the idea so if you would you can almost say that here in first one that's the Lord saying I'm going to tell you and show you the things which month which will ramp up or rev up as time goes by that's the idea and there's going to be some common themes there that we need to see by the way if you're a Bible student of as you go through the Bible and you bump into Bible prophecy all throughout the Bible one of the things that that we need to see and recognize about Bible prophecy is the frequency of the signs of the times and how they will ramp up rev up tacos is the idea in tacos that means like maybe remember this imagery the the woman that's in travail with child you pregnant moms you know what this is like man when you first realize you're pregnant then you're go through times of morning sickness for the first three months or so many of you and then after that you start to feel a little bit better but then you start to grow and it's an amazing thing you start seeing evidence of the baby that's coming and then the baby starts to kick and you start feeling the baby kicking I remember our doctor told us this little trick that when the baby was bigger and we were able to take a flashlight at night and you just you just put it on the mommy's tummy and so we did that and you move the lighter out and you can feel the baby like feeling and you know sort of interact with the baby it's kind of cool they like the light they're like to see the light through the baby belly tummy or whatever try that for all the it's all free before you pregnant people out there something for you to try but but but then all that fun's over once the contractions start to begin and the contractions labor pains man put down the flashlight start doing your breathing you know what I'm saying and sometimes it's those Braxton Hicks isn't that what they call them that they're sort of false alarm girls have those when you yeah many of you had those they were just like false alarms they weren't really that the baby wasn't coming but they were sort of signs that you were getting near and and many of you even went to the hospital thinking that the baby was coming because man you're you were time in the contractions and the intensity in the frequency that's the idea is tacos its intensity its frequency starts to ramp up and ultimately there's a point where the hospital says if it's this the contractions are this close and if it's this intense it's time to go to the hospital because the baby's coming where does the Bible use that analogy that illustration well go with me to Matthew chapter 24 or keep your finger here in Revelation in the book of Matthew of course 24 is where Jesus was asked by the disciples concerning the the signs of his coming and the end of the world that's what they asked him what are they what are the signs of your coming and when's the end of the world pretty clear question and jesus said verse 4 matthew 24:4 here's where he answers their question in matthew 24:4 jesus answered and said unto them take heed that no man deceive you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many that's what we studied in 1st John the Anti Christ or in place of Christ's those that would diminish Christ or even those that would try to replace Christ with a one who's not the Messiah really we're seeing that also verse 6 ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars do we have that going on these days that's been happening for a long time but man warfare you know with North Korea now I don't know if you're seeing their propaganda is ramping up and our propaganda is ramping up and who knows what's really going on I don't know but I I do know this it's it's a little scary to see kim jeong-hoon with his nuclear missiles that could reach Portland that's a problem for us and and so there there's great concern right now and his friendship with akhmad image odd down in Iran and you know there's just there's just a lot of rumors of war with Israel and Iran Israel and Syria I mean it's a powder keg right now people are holding their breath because the Syria Israel problem has been festering for for quite some time now and Israel's made some big threats that are quite scary concerning Syria and even in Isaiah 17 it says that that Israel will be a part of the end times with Syria and Syria the the city of Damascus will be leveled and made into a parking lot the Bible says in Isaiah 717 that's never happened Damascus is the oldest city in the world that's an interesting thing and here the Bible says that that city will be leveled where nobody will dwell there ever again so hmm interesting stuff to watch do I say this is exactly what's gonna happen and we need to hold our breath no but but we definitely have rumors of wars like Jesus said that there would be rumors of wars and see that she'd be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet for nation shall rise against nation Kingdom against Kingdom there shall be famines pestilences now the word pestilence there by the way is also you could also say plague or disease interestingly enough did you know that the CDC what does that Center for Disease Control came out today and said that there are 110 million 197,000 venereal infections in the United States if you don't understand that number the u.s. is creating new sti's or sexually transmitted infections faster than new jobs or college grads and that was the headline today u.s. nation creating new sti's faster than new jobs or college grads it's really sad to see how sexually transmitted diseases are affecting our nation because of the nature of them nobody wants to talk about them and we're feeding our kids these lines about safe sex that are not even really true and it's pretty sad to see what's going on there but just again to me another fulfillment of disease and plague if you want to call it that and earthquakes in diverse places has that been happening absolutely and these are the beginning of Sorrows look at verse eight there these are the beginning of Sorrows the Greek word there is odine which is literally translated as a woman in birth pains or in labor that's the literal word for odine the baby is coming as the idea there and so the idea is that Jesus saying these things will all be like a woman with child the idea is that there be more and more intense earthquakes and diseases and famines and wars and rumors of wars there'll be more intense and they'll be more frequent and that's why Bible prophecy people who like to read the Bible and like to say we see future events mentioned here we like to say men why wouldn't you believe that these are for today because this is exactly what Jesus said would happen even though a lot of the church today are plugging their ears and saying no no we're gonna bring the kingdom in by being good Christian people and bringing Jesus and making him feel welcome and ready to rule and reign and so there's a lot of teaching today about the kingdom and how we're going to bring that in and I believe that we are gonna have nothing to do with the bringing in of the kingdom it's all really Jesus and Jesus will prepare and make the world ready for his kingdom however he wants if he wants to use the church or if he wants to use worlds and nations rising up against nations but it's gonna get worse before it gets better that's what Jesus is saying some churches today are saying no it's got to get better before Christ can return and I'd be real depressed if I have that M times you right now you know what I mean if you thought things are gonna get better then Jesus come back because that would mean we're further from Christ's return today than we were yesterday because things are getting worse and they're ramping up Oh amazing like a woman with labor pains it's exactly like that now go with me to first Thessalonians real quick flip on over there you got Philippians Colossians and then first Thessalonians chapter 5 this is also so you got Jesus referring to the end times and the cataclysmic events of the world as birth pains ramping up intensity and frequency tacos but you also have that in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 where Paul says similar things he says there in 1st Thessalonians 5 concerning the end times he just talked about the rapture of the church in chapter 4 and then in chapter 5 he says but of the times of the seasons brethren you have no need that I write unto you for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night for when they shall say peace and safety then sudden destruction comes upon them as travail upon a woman with child and they shall not escape but you brethren are not in darkness that that day should overtake you as a thief you are all children of the light children of the day we are not of the night nor of the darkness therefore let us not sleep as do others but let us watch and be sober for they that sleep sleep in the night they that are drunk are drunk in the night but let us who are of the day that's the Christian people be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and for a helmet the hope of salvation for God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another even as also you do right here this is a great passage of endtime stuff of what we're to do we're not to freak out and be all heebie jeebie doubt about end times but we are to recognize that that is gonna come upon the world people who do not believe in Christ as thief in the night but for those of us we will not be taken as a thief those of us that believe the Bible believe Christ and it says that it will come upon them even as a woman with child and they will not escape again Paul is employing that idea of a woman in child pain in childbirth so so in the same way the reason I go into all that is that's one of the nature's of Bible prophecy and end times and the second coming of Christ is the events that lead up to that and man that's a long list of things we could talk about predictions of the Bible GOG Magog war in Ezekiel we could talk about the stage being set for what the book of Revelation shows us in the Book of Daniel talks about a coming world leader is the world ready for a world leader to come and kind of take care of some problems does the world seem quick to jump on bandwagons of a great man who will come and sort of almost make him be like above all things have we seen evidence of that have we seen nations that are in such trouble like Greece and much of Europe really and other places where they're in such trouble that they're they're really looking for some good ideas and somebody to lead them these are all bits and pieces of a stage that's being set in future events even Russia and watching what the Bible says about Russia and the last days interesting the United States are very much absent from end times things which I find interesting we'll talk about that when we get to it in the book of Romans why is there's a scene that the United States are almost out of the whole picture prophetically altogether interesting stuff but Russia all the stuff the stage is being set all the nations that are going to Confederate against Israel we see those nations strategically setting themselves in place right now these are all things that are child birth labor pains that we see as they get more frequent and more intense that's really the word shortly I know you're they should have shortly dealt with the word shortly but it's it's important to know that's the nature of Bible prophecies that unfolds through time now this idea also of you know ramping up there's other scriptures that talk about that for example Daniel chapter 12 where Daniel says in the last days as it gets closer knowledge shall increase that's another thing that would ramp up as well we're living in an information age and it said that 80 percent of the world's total knowledge has been brought forth in the past decade if they could keep track of such a thing 90 percent of all the scientists who have ever lived are alive today that just shows you how much science is becoming more and more you know practical today as people are more and more people are practicing science scientists 3000 pages of scientific and technological information are being printed every second 3,000 pages of scientific information is being printed every second that's radical so all that to say this this is a kena by the way also for those who say shortly shortly man that means it's revelations already done it's already passed well keep in mind too even if you don't believe in the rapidity the tacos and all that still a day with the Lord second Peter chapter 3 tells us verse 8 a day with the Lord is as what a thousand years and a thousand years of those a day so I think we've got answers on just about every angle and level to realize why the rest of the book of Revelation does in fact make sense in the last days and seeing what the world's going on I really want to encourage you to if you're one who says ah the book of Revelation is all allegorical it's not to be taken literally it has nothing to do with modern times and you guys are seeing you know Patriot missiles when there's locust and all that and yeah I'll give it to you there's been a lot of wacko predictions and all that stuff over time but please take another look at as we go through this together and and say man is this really just Jerusalem in AD 70 when all this came down or is this more global and are these things unfolding tacos with a rapidity and a and a like the woman in labor pains well one more word not to belabor it hopefully but the the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to him to show his servants which must come shortly the things which come to pass he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John now if you have the NIV or the ESV they left out a section there and I don't know why because the Greek word is there but in the ESV and in the NIV it's not and that's that word signified I believe it's the new American Standard that notates another word I forget what the word is for the new American Standard but it notates and then it puts signified down below but the key is that word is there and for some reason they left it out now you can look that up if you want to but the the Greek word is Cimino in the Greek and it means to make clear in prediction or foretelling and so there's no even evidence of that in the NIV which is to me unfortunate because the word signified the first the first section of that word sign is kind of the key he's saying there that the Lord gave to Jesus this vision or revelation which the things which will come to pass and he sent and signified it that is to give signs or even as the word is translated to make clear and even prediction and a foretelling of the things of the future the reason that's important is because signs are something that Jesus told us to look at the signs of the times you missed that if you have the NIV but that's part of the deal the book of Revelation is a book of signs signs of the times and Jesus even said these are the signs and we already went over that Matthew 24 earthquakes wars rumors reports pestilence and all that stuff but but what I love about as you travel around is that they get more frequent the closer you get to the place I remember as a kid you know we used to travel and do little road trips once in a while my grandparents would load us up in their station wagon and we would head down from Southern Oregon all the way to Los Angeles and it was great I always loved there and going there in the summertime because we we could you know go to Disneyland and go to the beach and all that stuff it was always a really fun thing that we always look forward to but this is for all of you younger people we didn't have Nintendo's portable ones we didn't have DVD players we didn't have air conditioning we had these things you just to roll down make your window go down and and we used to actually ask our parents and grandparents are we there yet we used to ask that all the time you don't ask that because it's like to you it's like Disneyland in the car you know what I mean it's like you're having a blast you hope you don't get there very soon because you got games and stuff that you're doing but but I just remember you know sweating it out there down in Buttonwillow you know you're driving through Buttonwillow and you're sweating it down as a kid just going oh man and I'd be watching the signs as they come and I remember you know you leave Medford and the first sign I remember seeing is reading and I'd get excited because reading was officially California and I knew that in reading there was actually a sign that had a sign that said reading and then los angeles was also oh man even though it was hundreds and hundreds of miles away at least it was saying los angeles you know and then I just remembered going down that freeway and just you know red eye and then just watch it and the signs I'm pretty soon instead of from reading all the way to San Francisco or whatever your or Sacramento you'd get the the Los Angeles again but but the closer you got man you start seeing more and more signs Los Angeles Los Angeles and pretty soon man you know Los Angeles is right right it coming up you know the next 75 exits or whatever are Los Angeles you know and I remember I remember as a kid just being excited about that in the same way that's that's what you have to picture when the Lord talks about signified here he's talking about their signs that are gonna come to let us know when the coming of Christ is we're not going to be taken by surprise as Christians because their signs in the book the mistake obviously is made when people try to nay the day or the hour that's the mistake and my pet grandparents never did my grandpa had this thing where he said hey if you go to sleep I'll take a shortcut that's what used to tell us and I remember thinking I don't know if I trust him because as soon as I go to sleep but I go to sleep and man it was amazing it's true he did it he took a shortcut every time I'd go to sleep but um but but in the same way the signs of the times are gonna become more frequent and and and more intense as we get closer to the end that's the signification that's talked about at the end of verse one if your NIV Bible doesn't don't if you don't have that there you can talk about how its signified that things that are going to come to pass is what it's saying you can almost say that telling the servants which things must shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it that is showing signs of the times - is John the servant John well let's move on verse two this is great ripping through revelation it says number verse 2 it says speaking of John who bare record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw what is it that John would do heed number one bare record of the word of God man this is always the safest thing to do for you and I we learned something from this verse where that's where you're safe when you bear record of the word when people ask you advice man stick to the scripture go with the word don't go with your gut go with the word of God if you've got a scripture and the only way you're gonna be ready to give a word from the word is to know the Scriptures to be a person who's in the word taking time in the morning reading the word we're gonna find out that John was in the spirit on the Lord's Day and that's why he was going to receive a word but I believe that also John the Apostle was entrusted with this word because God knew that he would actually write it down and be faithful to give that word to people you see I I see the evidence in the Bible that God will give a word to the person who's willing to give that word to someone else but if you're afraid or unwilling to give a word from the word to someone then I don't believe God will entrust you with a word to give ya what do you mean Brett well have you ever felt like man I just don't have anything to say I don't know what to tell this person that might just be an indication for you to say man should I be more in the scripture should I take a little more time devoting you know time to study in God's Word devoting in the morning when I get up time to read God's Word we are totally spoiled in this current age man you got your Bible on your nightstand you got your iPad your iPhone with 25 different translations with the Greek and the Hebrew you got blue letter Bible and commentaries and long us you know Logos Bible Software is amazing powerful I love it but I just have a hunch that when I go to heaven Paul's gonna look at me just go man look at all those resources you had and look how dumb you are you know Paul Paul scares me because he's such an intellectual giant but but we have no excuse to not know the word but but I believe very much that the more you can take in of the word you also need to be willing to distribute the word if you're not willing to distribute the word I don't know that the Lord is going to entrust you with gems from the word to share with people in other words I don't believe God wants us just to sit and listen to Bible teaching or read the scriptures and just get amazing things just for our own health but I believe he will reveal to you in fact in relation to how much you distribute that's how much you're gonna be able to receive I see that I'm tempted to have you in fact turn with me to Genesis chapter 18 I love this little story this is where I first seen this in the Bible Genesis chapter 18 this is of course where Abraham's there in the plains of Mamre in the heat of the day and he sees these two angels and another guy walking up to his tent and he runs and you know kills the the fatted calf and takes butter and milk and you know and makes a dinner for them and they eat this meal and we learned from the Bible movie on TV that one of those angels was a ninja warrior and helpful information there but Abraham they're just finishing up their meal and then the Lord which is the third person by the way there's two angels and the Lord Himself and I believe just personally is a christophany and Old Testament appearance of Jesus Christ pre-incarnate or theophany if you want to call it that but listen what happens the Lord says in verse 16 this is Genesis 18 16 the men rose up from fence and looked toward Sodom and Abraham went with them to bring them on the way and the Lord said shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do now this is the Lord asking a rhetorical question that is a question that doesn't really need an answer but he's gonna answer it just for information should I hide the thing that I'm about to do to Sodom into work should I hide it from Abraham and the answer is give me no I'm not gonna hide it why would the Lord not he's not telling anybody else in the world except for Abraham why we read seeing verse 18 that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him for I know him that he will command his children and his household after him and they shall keep the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him what's that the revelation that God was about to give to Abraham was not based on Abraham just being an amazing guy or loving God or maybe that his revelation was based on Abraham's willing to distribute that which God had already given him he would teach his kids after him I'm gonna tell Abraham this because Abraham's gonna use this information to pass it on to others his and his family see here's where this is great for you moms and dads on a Wednesday night Bible study you know you don't want to go home and do family demos and do exactly what I do here word-for-word your kids would be bored to tears because you're bored to tears but no just I'm sure you're not but no but you take bits and pieces of what we're going through here and things you're learning here and man you bring the hay down from the law for your kids and do family devotions man you can do family devotions Friday night well what could I tell them that the end is near and they're all gonna die I mean that's what that's what I got out of your Bible study there on Wednesday night no no that's not what we're talking about here but there's any number of things that we could that you could take home and share with your kids in a smaller a shorter five minute little devotional you know just even about you know the end times that we as Christians are comforted force us alone news chapter four because the Lord his wrath was put on on the cross and in reread tonight in 1st Thessalonians chapter five that we are not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation so man what a great word you give to your kids as you walk with Jesus man the Lord his wrath that we deserve remember when mommy and daddy spanked you for you know hitting your brother and sister that that is what we all deserve we all deserve a spanking but the Lord took our spanking his wrath was put upon himself so that we don't aren't appointed to wrath we don't have to deal with wrath but there that's why we love to tell people about Jesus so that the wrath won't be upon them either I mean these are things we can talk to our little kids about you know ten-year-old eight-year-old do some family DeVos but I'll tell you if you distribute what God is showing to you in your personal time or here at church I guarantee God will reveal more to you there's something about God's revelation is not based on accumulation but it's based on just distribution you know I think of the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea when we go to Israel one of things I like to do is compare the two because we spend several days at the Sea of Galilee and we spend a few days at the Dead Sea what's the difference see if Galilee's teeming with life and there's palm trees everywhere and there's fish and just you know just great great life and beauty then you're down then saying there's not one twig not one tree there's there's there's nothing living in the Dead Sea that's dead because it's dead now you say bread that's really brilliant but why is the Dead Sea dead it's because it has no outflow you know the Sea of Galilee the the the headwaters of the Jordan River flow through there is beautiful area and the water flows through the sea and kind of goes out the other end and then it flows down to the Dead Sea but it's so hot and dry down there that the water it evaporates and it doesn't keep flowing it just stops there so life stops there I see that as a sort of an analogy of your life and mine as well as are you the Dead Sea or the Sea of Galilee if there's inflow there must be also outflow and and then their life comes from from the more we share the more we give out the more the Lord will reveal to us I believe John the Apostle was one who was entrusted with this massive vision from God because he was willing to write it down and willing to distribute it you say yeah what's that John he received this from God who wouldn't but when you read the book of Revelation I'd have second thoughts about distributing this there's a lot of crazy stuff we're gonna read in this book and especially for a guy like John John's gonna talk about a six hundred million man army and he's gonna say that's gonna happen but guess what there weren't even six hundred million people on the planet during John's life isn't that funny I mean John Lord you sherry going to write six hundred million yep write it down John okay I mean think about that that's bulb John talking about an army from the east that's gonna have six hundred million men Wow there weren't even that many people on the planet alone army by the way in 1968 that's when radio Peking announced that they could actually put together a army of 600 million people that number exactly but that was way back in 1968 so you can only imagine now so pretty far-fetched for John but he wrote it down anyway and he distributed it and that's what it says he John would bear record verse two of the Word of God I hope you are willing to do the same because you'll receive more from God that way he bore record of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ and that's what it is all about by the way now the question is the Testament of Jesus is that what this book is is it talking about this book the book of Revelation is the testimony of Jesus I think yes but some scholars also believe it's speaking of John's writing of the gospel the Gospel of John which is the testimony of the life of Christ here on earth which one is it both may be either one you pick you choose but we know that John was all about bearing record of the Word of God but John was also all about pointing back to Jesus and bearing testimony of Jesus Christ speaking of Jesus and finally in verse two not only the bare record of the word wearing testimony of Jesus and of all the things that he saw so John is gonna see a vision and he's going to be told to write the things which you have seen past the things which are present and the things which shall be Hereafter and he's gonna write those things down and and that's that's that's his job here that's what he's gonna do so verse 3 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 we looked at this mostly really on Sunday about the blessing that comes with this little book what a great book the only book in the Bible that says read me I'm special and I've got a special blessing for three people the people to do these three things those who read those who hear and those that keep the words that are written within first those who read by the way the word read there again not to get too much into the Greek and stuff but this is interesting the Greek word is a word that means to read aloud there's two words really for reading and want us to read quietly silently and want us to read publicly this is the public reading word which I think is interesting I think we are told by Paul to young Timothy give attendance to the reading of Scripture and that's that's important for churches to be given to the reading of the Word of God I hope you're one who reads and by the way try this sometime try reading your devotions out loud I like to do this especially when I'm distracted with a million things and then my mind is quickly moving it's it's very obvious when you start getting distracted when you're reading aloud you're like oh man I should I should keep going here I need to keep reading but if you're reading silently you can be thinking about other things so there is something good and I think powerful really about reading out loud the Word of God give a tennis for reading that's why to me it's it's so tragic when churches take up the thing where they'll maybe do a big sermon but there's not a lot of scripture read you can actually go to churches day and have no scriptures read maybe a one verse tacked on the wall on those on the overhead or something and I know there's a scripture verse but but it's mostly people just talking about things but I love just getting in the word and tonight you know it's kind of fun because we get into Genesis chapter 18 we've been in first Thessalonians chapter 4 read a good section of that we're reading a few words here in the revelation but but there's something about actually getting into the Bible's that's why I'm glad you have Bibles in hand because we're reading our Bibles and making that a real part of what the church is doing so blessed is he that reads that's the outloud reading and they that hear you know James warns about being the hearers only and not doers of the word and we see John sort of echo that here when he says they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand notice it's a word of prophecy the book of Revelation is called by itself a word of prophecy don't be duped by people say there's no prophecy in there it's just all about worshipping Jesus it is about worshiping Jesus as it relates to Bible prophecy so don't miss that but also there are things to keep keep that in mind and that means the word keep means to guard it's a military term to or something and so when you read the book of Revelation there's something that you need to sort of keep in mind guard it and don't let it slip out of your heart your life your mind your actions so it's it's it don't just realize it's something that just tantalizes the prophetic taste buds or whatever it's actually meant to cause us to do something and hopefully by the end of the book of Revelation you'll have much to do as the time draws to a close one of the critics or the one of the criticisms of pre-trib rapture people is I hate to admit it but a lot of times it's valid and that is that those who study end times stuff and believe the pre-trib rapture it's it's almost like we can get so much into the rapture and and obsessed with the rapture that that's all we ever talk about that's all we ever think about we charge up our credit cards because we know the rapture is coming tomorrow so man it's bills and all that who cares we won't have to pay them because the rapture is coming that's I know that sounds wacko but I saw people especially back in the 70s and 80s I saw Christians doing that kind of stuff and man the the idea of the rapture of the church is not to just make us sit around and go well the Lord's coming we're gonna sit around do nothing but actually it should do the complete opposite when you realize that the rapture of the church could be soon the the anticipation imminence of his return it should make us go ballistic in serving the Lord doing what he's called us to do especially preaching the gospel to the lost man I hope that that's one of the fruit that we some fruits that we see in this study is a desire to preach the gospel to reach out to those that have not heard the gospel of Jesus Christ that should be fruit of the Book of Revelation I believe that's going to be one of those things you and I are called to keep after the hearing of this book is to preach the gospel to the unsaved for the time is at hand well verse four John to the seven churches which are in Asia Asia one of the things I want you to know about the book revel is to note with me as we go through this how many sevens there are now some people get maybe two ending biblical numerology or Theo Maddux as some call it but it is an interesting thing about the Bible you can't deny that the numbers in the Bible are are at least interesting what's what's the deal why are there so many 7s what do you mean sevens Brett well there's seven churches we just read here but we're also gonna see there seven seals we're gonna see that there's seven trumpets and then we're gonna see that there are seven bowls we're gonna see in the book of Revelation seven lampstands and seven spirits in fact even in the second part of verse four he says and from the seven spirits which are before the throne so there's seven spirits we'll talk about what that means next week seven stars seven lamps seven tidal pairs I'll tell you what those are as we get to it in Chapter two and three seven promises to the overcomer we've got seven horns seven eyes seven angels seven thunders seven thousand people mentioned in verse 11 verse thirteen you got seven heads I could keep going on this you don't believe me okay seven Crown's seven plagues are gonna be talked about seven mountains which I believe in Rome seven kings I mean I could just keep going on there's so many sevens in the book of Revelation you say what's the deal why is everything seven by the way if somebody asks you a question about the Bible and how many there were of something it's a pretty good bet it's gonna be seven it really is kind of amazing how many statements of Jesus make you how many I am statements did Jesus make seven I am Steve like it's pretty amazing when you go through the Bible the word the number seven it in in the in the ancient cultures numbers held greater meaning than they do in our culture now in our culture seven did come out with sort of a connotation of luckiness lucky seven but in ancient cultures even in John's time and in the biblical writers they actually held meaning in fact in the Hebrew alphabet the the Hebrew letter had an equivalent number that had great meaning and so seven in the Bible is the number of completion the number of fullness the number of perfection and that's why a lot of times we can put it with godliness seven is his completion but we'll see how seven really does speak of finality and fullness completion perfection one of the things that's a seven in the book of Revelation that I love and we can do a sermon on this is the seven Beatitudes of the book of Revelation did you know there's Beatitudes you know in Matthew's Gospel we have the Beatitudes but there's blessed statements in the book of Revelation blessed is he that reads that's verse three that's the first of the seven blessed are the dead who die in the Lord revelation 14 as another beatitude blessed he that watches and keeps his garments blessed are they who call in the marriage supper of the lamb blessed and holy are they were the part of the first resurrection blessed is he that keeps the word of this prophecy verse 20 chapter 22 verse 7 blessed are they that washed their robes there's seven blessed people in the book of Revelation and we'll pause and look at those but it's interesting all the 7s now you say what's the big deal who cares well I believe that the sevens are all part of the fingerprint of God on the Bible so when we talk about seven churches which are in Asia or the seven spirits it's all part of this complex biblical structure that we have no idea how deep it really goes but it's profound there was a guy by the name of dr. Ivan panini who always is intriguing to me he was a guy who was born in Russia on December 12 1855 and he having participated in plots against the Czar in his early ages he was exiled after spending some years in study in Germany he eventually came to the United States and entered Harvard University the guy was a brilliant mathematician as well as a philosopher after graduation from Harvard in 1882 he converted from agnosticism to Christianity interesting guy but in 1890 he discovered some phenomenal mathematics design underlying both the Greek text and the Hebrew text of the Old and New Testament and he spent the rest of his life even to his own health problems and peril he almost got sort of obsessed with Bible numbers many people kind of thought he was nutty but what's interesting about him after painstakingly going 50 years of his life just going through numbers in the Bible exploring numerical structure structure of scriptures generating over 43,000 detailed hand penned pages of analysis 43,000 pages handwritten of analysis of math in the Bible he went on to be with the Lord when he turned 87 in 1942 so you say okay but what did he really discover I mean all those years did something come of it well several things pretty amazing I'm just gonna share with you one in fact turn with me to Matthew chapter one I'm almost done we'll pack it up here in a sec but in Matthew chapter one you know where you attend to saw logs when you're reading the Bible where you start to snooze the the genealogies are some of the chiefest of those places you know you start reading like like look at chapter 1 verse 1 it says the book of the generation of Jesus Christ the Son of David the son of Abraham Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob Jacob begat Judas and his brethren and Judas begat Phares and Zara and Tamar of Tamar and Pharaohs begat aram and SRAM begat Aaron and on and on he goes to verse 15 and Eli who'd begat eleazar eleazar begat matthan and matthan begat jacob and jacob begat joseph the husband of mary who was born Jesus who is called Christ so you say okay great Brett what about that well this is a genealogy now genealogies are hard enough just just to begin with you got to get all the names of people from generations right like anybody tried to find their family history that's a pretty tough work to do but you get all those names together but let's just do it design challenge for you let's say you had to make your genealogy for someone and it had to be true all the people that are in the genealogy they all have to be the accurate people who were really part of the family you say Brett sure but you also have to have all the number of words that you end up with your genealogy they all have to be divisible by seven evenly that'd be pretty hard oh but there's more you also have to have all the numbers of letters that you used here and I'm talking about the Greek text of the of this little fan geology all the letters that use they also have to be divisible by seven evenly the number of vowels that you also have to be divisible by seven as well as the consonants the number of words that begin with a vowel must be divisible by seven the number of words that begin with a constant most immutable by seven number of words that occur more than once should be divisible by seven the number of words that occur more than in one form must be divisible by seven the number of words that occur only in one form that are not in one form must be divisible by seven the number of nouns that she be divisible by seven only 7 words should not be nouns the number of names shall be divided by seven the not only seven of the other kinds of nouns are prevented the number of male names should be divisible by nevins seven I go on there's more the number of generations shall be divisible by seven and on and on the list goes you say bread that would be let alone getting the accurate names that would be impossible to make sure everything's divisible by 7 but what's you math people and and any of you linguistic people no that's impossible to make a genealogy that's accurate but at the same time have pretty much everything in the nature of the writing in the Greek text be divisible by 7 that's that's kind of crazy stuff you couldn't even really do that if with a supercomputer with you know years to work on it but that's one of the crazy things that dr. Ivan pannini found to be true for this genealogy of Matthew in chapter one in the Greek text see to me you say brother I don't you understand that well the point is it's the fingerprint of God saying there's something deeper about the Bible than just what means the eye now good news we don't have to get all into the deep stuff because I'm still trying to figure out the stuff that's just written in English you know what I'm saying I think some people get too much into this stuff but in in some ways you think well Ivan finian must have been mehdi to figure out that all those things and that's pretty radical there's no real text in history that's ever done such a thing but at the same time I think that Pennines work is interesting just to let us know that yep God wrote the Bible there's no way that a man could have written the Bible to have the genealogy work with all those divisible by seven rules and yet have it be the genealogy that goes all the way back hundreds of years earlier into the Old Testament verified by the people of Israel I just see that all part of God's fingerprints so when we go through the book of Revelation you're gonna see more sevens than any other book of the Bible and the reason I point that out is I believe the book of Revelation just by its design and nature tends to be somewhat mysterious and mystical in a way to sort of observe some of those things when you see sevens a lot of times the 7 things correlate to 7 other things so when you see the sevens in the book of Revelation like the 7 churches the 7 angels the 7 spirits these are all things that are gonna have something to do with each other and they're interrelated and it makes it even more exciting I think as we study through the book so speaking of 7 complete we've got to finish this up and call it a night so next week we will try to get a lot further than verse 3 we'll get into verse 4 and onward into this chapter well Lord we are thankful for this book and we do pray that that blessing that you promised as we go through this Lord that we would be those who are blessed as we read and hear and keep the things that are written therein help us Lord to have the right balance of the things that are mysterious and mystical but but Lord we really just want to learn the practical the things that we are to do and the things we were to keep in light of your coming so make us ready make your church strong in these last days Lord as we see more of these things unfold before us the the labor pains that are happening right in front of us lord I pray that we would truly be ready for your return watching waiting but Lord not just passive you tell us to occupy until till you come and we know that's more than just to hang out we pray that we'd be busy about your work and doing what you've called us to do so we pray your blessing Lord on these our people as we go our way tonight in Jesus name you
