006 s1-623 A Fine Divine Outline Revelation 1:19 04-14-2013

verse one says that this is the revelation of Jesus Christ the word revelation it's an interesting word in the Greek it's a poke ellipsis where we get our word apocalypse and so people get all excited who the apocalypse isn't that a movie isn't some which the nuclear weapons detonating and multi particle beams being blown up and electromagnetic pulse weapon people get all interested in all that and it is interesting to see what's going on in the world but when it says the apocalypse or the apocalypse ace the word apocalypse the Greek word if you look it up in the dictionary it means the unveiling or the revealing so the very beginning of this book is really saying the unveiling the revealing of Jesus Christ and that really is the goal in fact the spirit of prophecy is Jesus Christ we read that scripture from the end of the book of Revelation just as we were introducing this book and so it is tempting to you know just get into the endtime stuff and and forget but today we're gonna cover some kind of hardcore end times notions and ideas and controversies even and then the goal is to get it back to what it's all about and that is Jesus Christ so if you're willing strap on your eschatological safety belt and here we go that is eschatological it's just a fancy way of saying the study of end times and different people and different churches good churches good pastors good people have varying views on their eschatology or their study or belief in the way the end times is gonna unfold and so oftentimes the believer hears all the different views and starts to get kind of frustrated and and says man it's just too confusing and there's no real agreement on the end times and all that and so we should not even bother well let the theologians hammer it out we're just gonna pray that we don't get killed or we're just gonna pray that we survive or go to heaven and just we'll just call it good but here's the problem with that kind passive view the Bible says be not ignorant of the things concerning the end times Bible tells us that of all the things there's only five real notions in the Bible that says we're not to be ignorant about two of the five have to do with end times one is just not being ignorant of the signs and the seasons the times we're living in but also not to be ignorant concerning the nation Israel and those two notions have very much to do with end times things so what I want to do hopefully and I'm gonna need help from the Holy Spirit on this one so I'm going to show you the the various views and try to divide up the big ones the main ones so you kind of know what people are saying out there and the reason I'm gonna do that I haven't really spent a lot of time with that in the past but the reason I want to do that is to show you as it's almost like to set the stage for you to say okay here's the views but then as we go through the book of Revelation I believe you will very naturally see why I hold the view that I do and perhaps I can nudge into what I believe and that is the pre-trib premillennial view of the way the end times will unfold that's that's my personal persuasion so before we read the single verse because I believe the verse that we're gonna look at today really largely should solve the problem altogether and and very much gives clarity while other groups and other views will say oh man it's a tough thing to talk about it's difficult the Revel book of Revelation is a hugely intense and difficult book to understand so much so few churches will actually go verse by verse through the book of Revelation and to me it's a bummer it's a total bummer because I think the book of Revelation is one of the easiest books in all the Bible and I'm not saying that because I'm brilliant or smart I'm just saying it really is if you understand that the book comes uniquely with two things two characteristics this little book of Revelation in the back of your Bible has and by the way I remember when when you're a kid I remember when math books started coming with the answers in the back of the book do you guys remember that you young people think that's the way they always came they didn't I remember math books that had no answers but I remember thinking about some doop figured out that it would be a good thing to put the answers in the back of the book and I was thinking about you know but I didn't really learn math very well that way but at least I knew I was 5050 because usually put every other answer remember that every other of the Magic Man so they should have just gone all the way you know well the answers were in the back of the book well in the same way the Bible I believe has the answers in the back of the book you remember the disciples sat there on the Mount of Olives with Jesus in Matthew 24 and said what are the signs of the end and when's the end of the world and when's it all going to come down and then Jesus gave what we call to be the all of that discourse powerful and important so Matthew 24 is Jesus going for quite some lengthy sermon on the way the end is gonna look how it's gonna feel and so some of the major New Testament Scriptures would include Matthew 24 and the book of Revelation as it relates to the end of all things or the end of time or the end of the world or the last days Jesus in Matthew 24 John the Apostle in the book of Revelation we've got some in Thessalonians and 2nd Thessalonians and first Thessalonians we have some discussion about end times but here's the deal the churches sort of disagree in many places about the way this is to be interpreted and so it largely has to do with the main events and when they're placed now let me just remind you this is an important thing that varying views of eschatology or endtime study it's okay there's a lot of good people and and I want I want to stress that that that this is an in-house debate those of us that love Jesus and and believe that he died on the cross for our sins that were saved by the grace of God we can have these discussions and it should be a blessing to be able to talk about them and and talk through them and I've got good friends and even family members that I talk to you about these varying views or have a very different view that I hold and so it's all good but you'll you'll guess as we get going I'm there pursuaded so much so that I like to really share pre-trib premillennial view with with as much strength as I can because man to me it very much makes sense and the verse that we have before us well I think clarify very much with what that's all about so here's the deal you've got you've got some main events you hear people kick around these notions the rapture of the church you hear people talk about the tribulation period if you've been around the church long enough you'll hear people talk about the Millennial Kingdom and the new heavens and the new earth and stuff like that have you guys heard those terms yeah okay so the the big thing is where do those things lie and what order do they fall and so that's really the main deal so you have as far as the Millennium that's that's that's probably the single section of time that the Bible talks about that people don't really agree on where that millennium is or what it is even so you have very views you have the post-millennial view and what that is is that they believe that Christ his second coming his return to this earth to rule and reign they believe it comes at the end of the millennial kingdom that thousand-year millennium it means thousand and there is a thousand-year reign talked about in Revelation chapter 20 and it says it's a thousand years there and so the the post-millennial view is that Christ will return at the end of that millennial age and and so then there's another group that believes in what they that's possible oh no the second group is a millennial and the word ah means no no millennium and what that is the are Millennials believes in no literal Millennial Kingdom they believe it's more of a figurative sort of notion in fact it's it's interesting because as you look at the our millennial view what you realize is there's there's some variations within our millennialism it's a view of that that there's no literal thousand year period where Jesus will have a physical reign on earth the amillennial view holds in a thousand years that's mention in Revelation 20 is only a symbolic number and not a literal description and many believe that the Millennium has actually already begun that we are they would say we are currently living in the Millennial Kingdom or more rarely some of them believe that it ended that Millennial Kingdom ended with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 and that has to do with more of a view called preterism preterism that's kind of linked in a way to amillennial view but the preterist view and you may be heard of this it's pressure it just means past and basically that's derived from the Latin and they believe that the prophecies of Jesus in Matthew 24 as well as the book of Revelation were all fulfilled in AD 70 when Jerusalem was conquered by Rome led by the Conqueror general Titus and so they believed that the churches of Asia Minor were prior to the Jewish war ad 66 to 80 70 so the preterist has to say that the book of Revelation was actually written more like 60 something a.d and not 90 or even a hundred ideas most most people believe it to be so the preterist and the omelet it tends to take all the Bible prophecies figuratively you don't take those things literally and unless you're applying them to what happened in Jerusalem in AD 70 now let me just give you a little free before yeah one of the main reasons I'm not an amillennial Astoria's because Bible prophecy that is the Lord speaking of future events so far in history the prophecies of the Bible interestingly enough came to pass quite literally even you know our Savior Jesus Christ there were prophecies concerning a man who would be born in Bethlehem who would ride a donkey into Jerusalem and the prophecy of Daniel chapter 9 they could have known the very day when he would ride in Jerusalem quite literally and that's why Jesus wept over Jerusalem as he's riding the donkey says o Jerusalem if you would have known in this thing heeey you could have known really the day that I was coming how is that because Bible prophecy was literally fulfilled and so I'm one who takes the Bible very literally and I think it's rewarding what's interesting by the way as many of the pop prophecies as it relates to end times has to do with the nation Israel and if you were on this earth studying your Bible even a hundred years ago it would have been a hard thing to see the literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy be and you'd have to say now these must be figurative because there's so much about the nation Israel and 100 years ago the nation of Israel didn't even exist because in AD 70 all the Jews were scattered out of Jerusalem and they went to you know ultimately parts of Arabia and and in even Iraq and up in Russia and New York City they ended up there's more Jews in New York City than almost anywhere on the earth other than Israel and so they they were scattered all over the earth for a couple thousand years so when you read Martin Luther for example who lived several hundred years ago he was a nominal annulus because he didn't see a literal Israel and he didn't see that they were they'd been gone for hundreds and hundreds of years so how do you take that literally but I believe the amillennialist should have changed his notes should have looked and the preterist should have taken another look when Israel became a nation again May 14th 1948 Israel was declared a nation again given their old homeland it's funny how the world calls them occupiers even though they were there millennia ago that was their land given by God to Abraham it's a funny thing that the world is arguing this whole point but what's interesting is the Bible says the world would argue over Jerusalem and there's a prophecy I mean the prophecies are so specific Israel would be gathered their language of Hebrew would be lost the Bible says which it was nobody on the earth spoke Hebrew it was only like Latin in the sense of as an academic language after the Jews were scattered and so when the Jews regrouped in Israel as I the Jews migrating back to Israel it was Theodore Herschel and others Ben Yehuda these guys they brought back the Jews and brought back to the language of Hebrew from extinction the Bible said that would happen it's amazing the literal unfolding of Bible prophecy so the AMA Limulus the preterist those who take everything figuratively I think that might be a big mistake as we're seeing very literal things unfold like you know for example the Battle of Armageddon we're gonna study about in the book of Revelation what's that well basically all the nations of the world are gonna come and they're gonna very much be against Israel and all their guns will be pointing toward Israel you know again a hundred years ago people would say there is no literal Jewish nation there are no Jewish Israelis so that can't be a literal thing but now is anybody wondering if there's nations that don't like Israel I mean every day on the news we see nations talking about blowing Israel off the map with Iran and Syria and all these nations that are being very aggressive the Hamas when the Hezbollah this is all what the Bible said would happen in fact the Battle of Armageddon is really gonna be largely the nations pointing their weapons at Israel and that's when Christ is going to return I take that very literally I'm just a literalist accused me of being too much of a believer in little literal things but I have found that believing the Bible as literally as we can has been very rewarding and we find that so many prophecies are coming to pass even our president fulfills Bible prophecy did you know that you can be happy our president is biblical so as our our you know Secretary of State biblical he said oh great that's wonderful Brett yeah cuz in Zechariah 12 and Zechariah chapter 14 it says that Israel in the last days when just just before the day of the Lord comes the nations will seek to divide Israel in half and the nations that do that will be handling a cup of trembling read zechariah 12 read zechariah 14 you say okay well who's doing that well did you hear our president few years ago say we need to restore the borders that were in Israel at pre-1967 he went on record saying we need to go back to the 67 borders and anybody who knows that which when we go to Israel show you the 67 borders that changed we'll drive right through those streets and you'll see it goes right down the middle of Jerusalem it splits Jerusalem in half if you go back to the 67 borders which our president is calling for now I'm being facetious that that's a good thing the nations that handle Israel and try to divide Jerusalem will be handling a cup of trembling and we wonder why our nation seems to be trembling economically and and so many other reasons I believe our relationship to Israel is very important see it's the our millennial view and the preterist view have you ever wondered how can and how can Christians say whatever Israel we don't care divide Israel call for a Palestinian state which means dividing Jerusalem in half how can churches say that if you're wondering it's because these views do believe that pretty much God is done with the Jewish people because they forsook the Lord and so they've replaced the Jewish blessing with the church and it's called replacement theology and a lot of times the preterist or the Armel analysts believe that the church has taken the place of the Jew but if you're not careful that can be very arrogant to say we've replaced God's chosen people I'm not willing to say that not even close in fact Rome Romans chapter 11 says don't be haughty you Gentiles don't be arrogant Gentiles because the Lord does have a plan for Israel yes they're sort of in hibernation right now spiritually they're blinded in part the Bible says but there's gonna come a day where their eyes will be open the Jewish people and they'll see that they rejected the Messiah when Jesus comes they'll see see him as the Lamb that had been slain and they'll say where did you get those wounds and Jesus will tell them I got this these wounds in the house of my friends it's a radical story but I believe that replacement theology is a very haughty and arrogant type of view and it's dangerous for you I'll tell you why if the Jews were forsaken by God because of bad behavior what is keeping you from being forsaken by God because I would argue that you were probably worse than the Jews and so am I the Jews were sort of like the champions of righteousness they were the ones who tried the hardest to keep the law of the Mosaic law of the Old Testament and they did as good of a job as I think any nation a group or people could have done but the point of the law the New Testament tells us was to drive us to drive us all to Jesus Christ where there's forgiveness of sin we have to be real careful because if the Lord says one of those Jews I'm just put off I'm put out I'm perturbed with those Jews so I'm gonna choose the Christian Church if he first sucked those guys which he didn't because he made as the Old Testament says an everlasting covenant with the Jews everlasting means everlasting even when you look it up in the Hebrew you don't want to play with an everlasting promise that God has for two people that's why I'm very very concerned about the preterist and the millennial views because it tends to be saying God has done with the Jews and that's why as many good things as Martin Luther did in the Reformation and I'm so appreciative of one of the things that I'm sure Martin Luther is really embarrassed about now that he's in heaven is he was an anti-semite radically he spoke horribly evil things against the Jews that's just the truth as somewhat of a Martin Luther fan that's the one area I kind of like to push in the back as I uh he didn't have a clue on the Jewish thing that was a big goof but I have to say if I lived in his time I might have been tempted to think the same way because it'd be hard to take the prophecies of the Bible literally because there were no is there was no Israel are you following me on that now now that's the the amillennial and preterist view you don't take anything very literally that that's one of those views so you got postmillennialism that is the christ's return will come at the end of the Millennial Kingdom you got all millennial and that's where there's no literal millennium and no real literal translation or I should say interpretation of of the Bible prophecy but then you have premillennial view much of evangelical Christianity falls in that category of pre-millennial that is we believe that Christ is going to return just right at the beginning or prior to the thousand years that's called the millennial kingdom that Jesus will come again and then he'll rule and reign over that Millennial Kingdom so so you know the amillennial says now we're living in the kingdom right now another problem how was that is when I read about the kingdom period that's coming in the Bible there's gonna be some interesting characteristics can anybody quiz time can anybody tell me what's one of the characteristics of the Millennial Kingdom you read about in the Bible that's the famous one isn't it the lion shall lie down with the lamb does that happen today the lion lying down with the lamb no only for dinner you know what I'm saying lamb chops there's not so good for the lamb right in the Millennial Kingdom that's what's gonna happen it's gonna there's gonna be you know the fallen state of the world is gonna be repaired during the Millennial Kingdom and you know old things are gonna be passed away there's gonna be newness and and righteousness and purity brought in what else is gonna happen in the Millennial Kingdom anybody what's that yes the devil the devil the Bible talks about that we're gonna read about this in the book of Revelation the devil will be tied up for a thousand years of the Millennial Kingdom and his demons will be thrown into what is called the abuso the bottomless pit he won't be released at the end of the money enforce season and you say why well we'll get into that as we go through the book of Revelation but see the point is Daniel even talks about the Millennial Kingdom he says them during the Millennium there'll be an end of transgression an end of sin so as a novel analyst you have to say wow that's pretty optimistic to call that we're in the Millennium right now because I don't see an end of sin question is sin worse today than it was yesterday absolutely in fact I'd be real depressed if I was a Dominion theologian or Kingdom now a theologian because you're trying to bring the kingdom of God in right now with your efforts and energies but we're failing on that but see the Bible says that things will get worse before they get better so that's kind of an interesting thing the it's the premillennialists that believes that Christ is his second coming remember his first coming was what he came as a baby born in Bethlehem the second coming of Christ is when he comes and rules and reigns on this earth and I believe it'll be for that thousand years where we will rule and reign with him under his authority those of us that are Christians will be able to have some role in that Millennial Kingdom now you say okay but what about there isn't that the rapture of the church don't be confused the rapture of the church is different than the Second Coming I want to remind you the rapture is what we believe is where the church those who are alive and remain will be caught up first Thessalonians chapter four to meet Jesus in the air and will be with them from that point on that's what the scriptures say in 1st Thessalonians chapter four but the rapture of the church is not a coming of Christ he never sets foot on ground if you would on the earth but if we go up to be with the Lord and that's where we'll ever be with the Lord after the rapture of the church and we'll talk about the rapture in a second but as far as most of evangelical Christianity believes in a premillennial view that there's a militant you know a millenium a thousand year period and just before that Christ is going to return and rule and reign during that Millennial Kingdom well what about after the Millennial Kingdom well we'll talk about that in a minute so then then the question is if you're a premillennialists of those three views those are the three big ones our millennial premillennial post millennial most of evangelical Christians are premillennial in view now as we're all singing Kumbaya saying premillennial yeah within that group there's three major divisions and it's all good it's all good it's good good topic of discussion but what you'll hear about those is you'll hear a pre-trib post-trib and mid-trib you might add a fourth one because the pre-wrath people don't like to be called mid triggers and and i understand why there's pre-wrath mid-trib post-trib and pre-trib what's all that bread I'm confused well this relates to the Tribulation Period that's seven-year period that we read about in Jesus talks about it in Matthew 24 it's mentioned many times in the book of Revelation seven-year period called the tribulation it's got several names the time of the wrath of the Lamb who scary the wrath of the Lamb me run for your lives you don't have sad it's like the wrath of the Lamb you gotta remember it's speaking of the Lamb of God Jesus Christ is coming as the Lion of the tribe of Judah and it's gonna be horrifying well as we get through the book of Revelation you'll see what I'm talking about so so in the in the pre millennial group those those three or four main camps let's talk about those first of all post-trib some christians believe that the rapture of the church will happen at the end of that seven year period they believe there's the seven-year period of tribulation on earth and and again the time of the wrath of the Lamb where God pours out his wrath upon a christ-rejecting sinful world doom and gloom Brett I knew it when we get in the book of Revelation you're gonna talk about wrath and fire and brimstone and hailstones pounding people in the heads and death pestilence famine disease it's all the book of Revelation it's horrible no it is there are horrible things but but you have to understand that's the black backdrop that's dark and gloomy that's gonna point to the coming of Christ which is gonna bring the brightness of glory and it's something that we're gonna be able to look forward to and be comforted with but the big debate in premillennial is when's the rapture is it before the tribulation is that the middle of the tribulation or is at the end of the tribulation which one so the post-trib or say you know we're gonna have to go through the tribulation so you know prepare yourself brace yourself some of my post-millennial friends are probably post-trib friends as much as i love them some of them are a little kooky when it comes to bunkers guns and Cheerios and canned foods and stuff like that and by the way even if I were a post Trevor I'd be you know hesitant to go too nuts with the whole preparation because if the world is as bad as it says it's gonna get your little bunkers not gonna hold up and what are you gonna do when people are pounding on your bunker saying please we're hungry will you feed us and you open it up boom bless you is that what you're gonna do I mean is that Christian behavior to blow away your neighbor who's starving because they want your food I understand what those guys are all saying but I just don't see Christ really blowing away the neighbors because they're hungry and stuff like that so it is funny now I'm not saying all post trimmers are like that that's that would be unfair for me to characterize all post trimmers but that there are some that kind of do that if you see a person who's Christian who's getting their bunker altogether it's possible and likely that they do believe in a post-trib view because you have to go through the tribulation the mid-trib people and the and the pre-wrath they believe the rapture the church is going to happen the mid-river say right in the middle of the tribulation but the pre-wrath people say somewhere before the the middle or prior prior to the middle of the tribulation the middle of the tribulation and the reason they say that is in in their defense honestly pre-wrath lers is the bible does divide the the tribulation into two sections the first three and a half years and the last three and a half years and it's all called the tribulation but the last three now if years Jesus seems to call that the Great Tribulation it is going to be worse the further the last three and a half years are in fact going to be worse than the first three and half years and so the pre-wrath ler says before all that hardcore wrath is poured out the church will be raptured and and I agree with the pre-wrath lers in that I don't believe that we are Critias Christians are appointed to wrath but as I read the story of the tribulation as I read it I realize the whole seven years is gonna be horrible oh yeah the last are gonna be terrible but but the first three and a four not like a walk in the park there's going to be at least one third of the people on the population of the earth will die during that first three and a half years we'll see that as we get in the book of Revelation that's not going to be pleasant not going to be fun yeah and we're waiting for the rapture during that time but I'm gonna show you reasons why I believe in a pre-trib rapture so you have two pre-wrath mid-trib the post-trib but the pre-trib rapture believed simply that the next event on the prophetic timeline that we are going to see is the rapture of the church when the rapture the church happens when the Tribulation Period gets kicked into gear that's when those seven years start that's where all of Revelation chapter six year 19 is gonna kind of unfold and it's gonna be a horrible time to be on this planet now my post-trib and mid-trib and pre-wrath people there they're always saying Brett you just want to escape the tribulation you're just trying to you know keep us all out of the tribulation and Master that is absolutely guilty as charged can you say well Brett that's not a good reason well Jesus said this he said pray that you be counted worthy to escape all these things when he was talking about the Tribulation Period he says you know pray that you'd be able to escape and so that's what I pray for and I pray for a pre-trib rapture but III don't just pray and hope for it I believe it biblically makes the most sense so you got the pre-trib the mid-trib the pre-wrath and the post-trib all those different views now you say Brett I happen to believe this without the other well let me show you just one reason I've got a ton of reasons why I'm a pre-trib premillennial person but let me just show you something and this is gonna help us with the book of Revelation Revelation chapter 1 let's late take a look at verse 19 you say finally he's getting to the scripture there we read in Revelation 1:19 john is of course receiving the revelation of Jesus Christ and Jesus tells him verse 19 write the things which thou has seen and the things which are and the things which shall be Hereafter now many people would blow through this it's okay write down stuff right isn't that what it's saying but I think you missed something giant you see Revelation is unique in that it comes with its own blessing remember we learned that a couple weeks ago that it's the only book of the Bible says man if you read this if you hear this if you keep the words of this prophecy you're gonna be blessed revelation uniquely comes with that blessing I'm still marveling that churches blow off the book of Revelation because it's too difficult to understand and so they miss a blessing hey I'm Satan in some of your like it's possible if if I'm Satan I want people not that to have that blessing so I would whisper in people's ears ai you don't wanna read the book revelation it's too crazy it's too difficult to understand all that imagery and those the kind of language that's used and the of Babylon oh he can't talk about that in church and and and I'm Satan I want people to avoid the book of blessing you know what I'm talking about and isn't it sad that really by and large unless you reverse my verse through the Bible type of teaching Church you're gonna avoid the book of Revelation one thing you'll find by the way is the Church of the teach verse by verse chapter by chapter and book by book I think book by book is kind of kind of cool too not just I know there's good churches that teach just topically I'm not saying it's the only way to do it but I've found that man you don't skip stuff especially when you go book my book you just kind of cover everything whether you like it or not you cover the whole scriptures that's what I love to do and I think pastors are kind of intimidated by that but let me just say this the churches that are pre-trib premillennial are also the churches that are going verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book through the Bible it's hot you'll it's very hard I don't even know if I've heard of a church existing the teaches book by book chapter by chapter verse by verse that is anything but pre-trib premillennial let me just tell you why I believe that to be true it's because when you go through the scriptures verse by verse you've got to be able to explain what you were and it's got to fit what you were talking about last week and the week before and the week before you see as a church goes through the Bible everything kind of needs to fit together and it needs to be congruent there shouldn't be any conflicts one of the easiest ways to interpret Bible prophecy and the way it all fits together whether in Matthew 24 Daniel chapter 9 Revelation chapter 1 the one of the easiest ways to see how it all fits together is to have that pre-trib premillennial view if you're a humble emulous man you got to do some fancy structure work and you have to know the Greek in the Hebrew to the point where you and understand unless you really know what I alone happen to know it's very esoteric and it's the pre-trib premillennial view that says man you just read your Bible as it sits and it'll make sense and and and the book of Revelation will in fact fit with Daniel and what Jesus said to say in Matthew 24 and I believe that's the secret of understanding the book of Revelation is to take the book as it sits and it not only does it come with this unique divine blessing it also comes with its unique divine god-given god inspired outline and it's the verse that we just read it's a very easy outline of the book what is that right the things which thou has seen number one number two write the things that are and number three write the things that shall be Hereafter let me break that down in those three things and if you're taking notes you can jot them down but this is something that if you want to understand the book of Revelation understand this this is this is essential John is told number one write the things which thou has seen here's the question what has John scene up to this point that's it right you get an A Jesus chapter one is the things which she's already seen he's already seen a beautiful and glorious vision of Jesus Christ and we looked at that last Sunday and the Sunday before and the Wednesday a couple Wednesday's before we saw Jesus as just described for us as the faithful witness the first begotten of the Dead which means he's the resurrected one we saw Jesus in chapter 1 verse 5 and 6 as the the one who's made us a kingdom of priests and we've also seen him described as the one who's washed us from our sins in his own blood but then we saw also in verses 13 through 16 this glorious vision of Christ and and we talked about that was that last Sunday I think where we talked of the sword coming out of the mouth on the white hair and the fiery eyes and I gave you the admonition don't go home and paint this because it's an ugly painting literally but each of these things have meaning spiritually and how important that is to see what those meanings are we looked at that it makes Jesus just glow with glory as we read that and what a beautiful picture of Christ it was so so when John is told by by the Lord now John write the things which you have seen that's chapter one in our divine outline that's god-given it's it says men chapter one is point number one the things which thou has seen Jesus Christ you could make an argument that John has also seen Jesus in a literal friendship way as he walked with Christ on earth so write those things which I have seen but the second point number two is he says and write the things which are present day so what does John do well as you read through chapter one is about Jesus but the things that are well it moves right into the things that are the church age the church era we're gonna see the next couple of chapters so we're gonna start on Wednesday night the letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor what a rewarding study the study of the seven churches will be you see because it's multi-layered it's like the onion as you peel back the layers that's what the seven churches are because it is in fact about seven literal churches of Asia Minor which is today modern-day Turkey Ephesus Smyrna diet Tyra pergamus Laodicea you know Philadelphia all these different churches that are listed there they're part of the literal churches of Asia Minor and that's to be taken quite literally but you'll also realize as you read it and we're gonna see that the Lord puts for us these seven churches that will also speak of church history it's a panoramic view of all that has happened throughout the ages in the Church of Jesus Christ now remember if you're kind of new to this that when do the church age begin before the church age it was the old testament era if you would of the Jews who were under the law but Jesus came and fulfilled the law perfectly Jesus wasn't one who satisfied the demands of the law and for Humanity died on the cross so that the law drives us to Christ and when Christ died on the cross rose from the grave and ascended into heaven the church age began that is not just Jews but like Ephesians 2 says no longer is a Jews or Gentiles non-jews but he says we've seen any fees in chapter 2 one new man what was that new man the church the person whose Jew or Gentile who believes the Messiah of the Jews by the way I like to remind the people who don't believe that God still loves the Jews and has a plan for the Jews we have the Jews to think for our Messiah don't forget that Jesus the Messiah was a Jew and he saves all the world not just Jews but Gentiles as well one new man that's called the church now there's names for the church one of the biggest names I love is the Bride of Christ we are called the Bride of Christ the church that's an important thing to remember so this church age he says John write the things that are and I believe he's speaking of that entire age as John was close to a hundred years old probably when he received this vision of Revelation on the island of Patmos the church has already started to boom all over Asia Minor even in Rome and in Jerusalem and some and some Sumeria that whole recent region of Judea the church has started to grown it was a growing like wildfire and so John's saying okay I'm gonna write the things that are the church age it's very clear and we're gonna see in chapter 2 and 3 just that but then point number three on the outline that's given by God here right the things which are chapter one rights the things for me were the things which have you've seen chapter 1 and then write the things that are chapter 2 and 3 the church age and then he says and then write the things point number 3 that shall be Hereafter now there's an interesting Greek word pair there that you should know when it says hereafter in your King James or what is it after those things after these things and some of your newer translations the the Greek word is meta tota it's the the manuscript is meta hota if you were looking for it but metadata is the the word and you say okay so whatever but you after said meta tout is sort of a flag that has even maybe a little more meaning than just after these things in general but it's very specific in chronological order is the idea so after the church age what's next well I told you the chapter ones the things that she's already seen Jesus chapter two and three the things that are the church age that's the current age we live question by the way when is the end of the church age you have to kind of think about this but for those that believe in a rapture yeah you realize the rapture of the church is kind of the end of the church age isn't it that's that's the end and it's called the fullness of the Gentiles I believe it's one of those other terms you'll come up in the Bible so this church age will end I believe with the wraps for the church as a pre-trib rapture person that's what I believe and even your pre Millennials will agree the end of the church age will be there after the church so all the pre maletas post-trib mid-trib are mill sawmill all the different views or I shouldn't say that the AH Millennials many of them don't believe in a literal rapture at all which is unfortunate because when they're raptured this can be a big shock but but but all that to say you know here he's gonna write the things which shall be Hereafter mehnat out an out now follow with me chapter 1 Jesus chapter two and three things which are the church turn with me to chapter four let's see what it says there revelation chapter 4 it says of course you got all the churches in Chapter two and three and then you move into chapter four and it says in verse one after this can you guess what the Greek word is therefore after this meta tota so write the things which shall be Hereafter after these things after what things after the church age the things which are then after this chapter four I looked and behold a door was opened into heaven and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet question who had the voice of a trumpet in our previous study jesus remember he heard the voice of a trumpet turned around and looked and he saw Jesus so the voice of this trumpet calls out the door of heavens open up and and what does it say it says this voice of the trumpet was talking with me which said come up hither what does that remind you of anybody the rapture of the church hears the voice of heaven door of heaven opening up the voice calling out and sounding like a trumpet and suddenly it's going up into heaven that very much sounds very rapture esque even if you don't believe in the rapture why why don't people believe in the rapture it's interesting because they'll say the word rapture is not even in the Bible and that is correct neither is the word Trinity but most of them would agree that the bible does teach us of a trinity for sure but listen this is first stay where you are there in Revelation but this is 1st Thessalonians 4 it says for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the Archangel with the Trump of God so we got a trumpet blowing and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds and meet the Lord in the air so shall we ever be with the Lord that's the description of what we would call the rapture of the church the word caught up in the English is translated from - from a Greek word called harpazo the Greek word was translated into the Latin Vulgate as the word rapture that's where the word rapture comes from it was the Latin Vulgate that they kind of in that word sort of stuck but you can call it whatever you want being zipped up into heaven or caught up or harp on zode or whatever you want to do whatever gonna call so some people say the rapture is not even in the Bible first Thessalonians is one of those places of among many that speak of the rapture where the church will be caught up in the air to be with the Lord so back to Revelation 4:1 you see this met it out - after the churches of two and three in Chapter four then we have this coming up into heaven and he says I'll show the things which must be Hereafter again meda Tata so it is the pre-trib pre-millennial view that says we just take the book of Revelation as it's laid out very naturally the greatest part of being a pre-trib or premillennialists is we don't have to juggle the book of Revelation and try to take chapter three and move it over to chapter 6 and chapter 5 over you don't have to jumble it all up in fact it's the preterists and the momma ly knows who when they believe those some of those things have already been fulfilled you really have to juggle the book around and make it all it becomes this exercise of like son scram unscrambling the book of Revelation that's why people say it's too difficult it's too hard because you have to juggle it around the pre-trib premillennial you says no let the book of Revelation lie as it sits because John writes number one the things that he's already seen Jesus chapter one then he writes about the things that are present day the church age the seven churches and we're gonna see not only those literal churches but the panoramic view of church history from the beginning all the way to the present day of the church age we're gonna see that in those seven churches but then right the things which shall be meted out to after these things and so I believe chapter four to the end of the book of Revelation speaks of the future and what's gonna happen at the end of the world it's very simple if you look at it that way and by the way it all comes out in order even with that what do you mean well check this out since you're already there in Chapter four look what it says there so he's caught up into heaven we're told and what does he see immediately verse two I was in the spirit and behold the throne was set in heaven and one who sat upon the throne and it talks about what that looked like and round about the throne verse four there were four and 20 seats and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting clothed in white raiment look at verse five and out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings voices and there were hmm seven lamps that should bring back some interesting imagery that we've already covered of fire burning before the throne which are the seven spirits of God we've already talked about this in chapter one now don't forget we'll cover all this as we go through this I'm just giving you a sneak preview but chapters four and five are a heavenly scene we see what's going on in heaven and I believe it's an indication that the church is in heaven right here because we see the seven lamps and the Bible says the lamps or the candlesticks are the seven churches and they're represented also by the seven spirits of God but if you don't like that imagery look at chapter five real quick real quick verse verse chapter five is also the same heavenly scene it says in verse nine they sung the new song saying thou art worthy to take the book to open the seals thereof for thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests and we shall reign upon the earth questioned who are those that were redeemed well some well that must be the Jews yeah but it says here out of every tun kindred nation and people there's only one group of people that been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and taken out of every nation and that is the Church of Jesus Christ the point is we're gonna see that we have this after this after the church age we see the heavenly scene and guess who's there safely deposited in heaven worshipping before the throne you see the church in heaven meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice on earth what's going on on earth you got in heaven you got the church after this meta tanta but what about the earth what's going on there that's where chapter 6 picks up and what you see there is the Tribulation Period starting to unfold you have the four horsemen got horrible things starting to happen and right at the beginning of the tribulation what happens to flip over to page or chapter 6 just flip the page to chapter 6 where it says in verse 15 and then for you pre-wrath people if you take the book of Revelation as it sits this is toward the beginning of the tribulation after the four horsemen and notice what it says in verse 15 and the kings of the earth and their great men and rich men Donald Trump and those guys the chief captains and the mighty men and every bondman and free man hid themselves in dens and in the rocks of the mountains and said to the mountains and rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath has come and who shall be able to stand that's the wrath that's the tribulation period kicked into gear and it starts in chapter 6 and goes all the way through chapter 19 you say well what about chapter 19 well then the second coming of Christ so you had the rapture of the church which kicks off the Tribulation Period seven years as the book of Revelation just naturally lies out there and then in chapter 19 you have Christ's return and he comes with who us ten thousands of his Saints in chapter nineteen we're gonna read time by the way if you're a post trimmer what's the point of the rapture I call it the Malibu Mer I guess that ride is no longer a Disney I'm gonna bummer you remember the rider you go up then you come back down now I always wondered what the post-trib rapture view like why are you raptured you go up with the Lord then you come back down with the Lord and seems like there's no time in between the rapture of the church and the before the tribulation I believe serves a perfect purpose we are the Bride of Christ Christ takes his bride for seven years you Jewish wedding specialists know that that's key that the Lord takes his bride his church away by the way if you're gonna get married and you know that troubles coming and you have the opportunity to pull your bride you guys before you're married pull your bride out of great trouble and protect her from that and you have the ability to do that would you do it or would you say no honey poopsie you need to go through all the trials and troubles and we'll get married at the end of all that horrible time when people are dying all around you and stuff but you'll make it and we'll get married after that wouldn't you ladies just go I'm so in love see I believe the rapture of the church is Christ pulling out his bride before the wrath of God is coming down on the earth it makes perfect sense just in God's nature and character to have his church go through the tribulation well 1st Thessalonians 4 and 5 says we are not appointed unto wrath but to obtain salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord see I believe it's wrong to consider the church going through the tribulation because guess what Christ went through tribulation if you would for you in that he died on the cross for our sins so that we would not have to be punished for our sins the tribulation is a time where God's pouring out his wrath on a christ-rejecting sinful world anybody who wants to be saved can believe in Jesus Christ call out his name and confess with their mouth repent from their sins and say I'm a sinner who needs to be saved and if you confess and believe the Bible says you will be saved whether that's by the Raps or the church or should you die on your way home from church today if you've confessed and believed the work of Christ you will be not appointed under the wrath of hell and death and judgment and damnation which is in fact coming contrary to it popular you know pastors are trying to teach today death and hell it's real the Bible talks more about Hell then it talks about heaven but the gift of God is this salvation that you've never earned you've never deserved and I believe you should you die if you're a Christian you you're saved from the punishment of hell why would God put his church through punishment when he took the punishment for them see this is where when we start talking about Bible prophecy you can talk about amillennial premillennial post-trib Premal pre-wrath you can get in all that stuff but at the end of the discussion one of the things we all generally agree in is that Jesus took our punishment on the cross and and of all the things of prophecy when people get all freaked out man I'm worried about the tribulation and all this stuff I don't believe we were meant to worry in fact in 1st Thessalonians 4 and 5 the Lord says when you talk about these things comfort one another with these words that you are not appointed unto wrath so you got chapter 6 through 19 then in chapter 19 you have the return of Christ with ten thousands of his Saints and then in chapters 20 and 21 you've got this beautiful picture of the Millennial Kingdom and how it's set up and all that stuff in chapters 20 and 21 and then 21 and 22 you see a new heaven and a new earth and we all live happily ever after at that point and that's where all the views of Bible prophecy and the discussion will end and some people say up you're right oh you're right you're right I want to but but but it'll all end good for the believer so write the things which you've seen where was that Jesus in Chapter 1 then write the things that are present-day John's time and our time what age was that the church age in chapters 2 and 3 but then you've got write the things which shall be meted out to after these things and that starts in chapter 4 and the first thing we see after the rapture of the church where the church is taken up you see in chapter 4 and 5 what do you see there heaven and who's there we are or pictured there with Jesus in heaven and meanwhile on earth we see the tribulation kick into gear chapters 6 through 19 explains that in chapter 19 you have the return of Christ which is the second coming and then you have that Millennial Kingdom kick into gear a thousand years of the Lord ruling and reigning on the earth and then you'll see after that thousand years the great white throne judgment in Revelation 20 and then you'll see the new heavens in the new that's the order you see that's why revelation is in fact very very simple it's not hard if you just take it it'd be like you trying to read a great novel only you take the chapters and jumble them all up and then try to make sense of it that's what sadly a lot of the eschatological views do you can't take the book of Revelation as it lies perfectly if you do what it just does here and you take chapter 1 verse 19 as its divine outline you'll see how it perfectly unfolds but the main thing I want to leave you with is mad the wrath that was meant for you that we're gonna see poured out you see when I read revelation 6 through 19 I do get bummed out because it is sad to see what's gonna happen when the wrath is poured out but it does a couple things for me one it makes me glad that I'm not appointed unto wrath that Christ took my punishment on the cross so I wouldn't have to but number two it makes me want to share the gospel with as many people as I possibly can it's one of the reasons why every Sunday I present the gospel I've already given it a couple times today if you didn't notice though we're all sinners we need to repent from our sins and if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart Jesus died rose from the grave and forgives you for all your sins the Bible says you will be saved it's so beautiful so I thought it'd be appropriate I know it's a little a little bit late but I'd like to just have us close with a time of remembering the wrath that was meant for you was taken on the cross and it's really a celebration for us to go to the table of communion and I'd love for you to join me in just a just a couple songs and we'll close and then we'll dismiss you and you can head out but first if you don't know if you're a Christian I want to encourage you to become a Christian today confess with your mouth and believe in your heart I'm gonna have a few of my pastor friends here on that on staff and some of the elders and guys they'll be hanging out up against that back wall right there just up against the wall if their backs to that wall and they're just standing there looking like they have nothing to do they're looking for you to come and be prayed for to talk to them if you need prayer for anything man those guys would love to pray with you and you have you accept Christ and then you could come and you could eat of this little bread drink of this cup and what that is is simply the bread is a symbol of his body that was broken for us bruised the wrath that was meant for you and me was taken and that bread we eat that and rise his body endured our pain and then the cup is the blood of Christ we read in Revelation 1 it's the blood of Jesus that washes us white as snow and cleanses us from all our sins so when you come to the table Christians be repentant confess your sins that you've committed in this recent times of your life because once you become a Christian doesn't me you're gonna be perfect very far from that but you are perfectly forgiven for all your sins and that's what we do we celebrate forgiveness of sin when you get up from these tables as you kneel down and eat of the Lord and just commune with them when you get up you can know your sins are forgiven and you're there remembered no more and you don't have to be condemned or feel guilty but you can go your way and you don't have to be tangled up in sin you're free to not sin what a glorious thing that is so I want you to come let's pray together Lord we do ask that as we gather in your name that father you would be honored at these tables lord I pray that we'd come with real reverence in our hearts that we'd come with true hearts to worship Lord for those who are tired and weary from their sins Lord you do say in your word the way of the transgressor is hard but I would pray Lord that as we confess our sins at this table of communion that you'd lift that burden the guilt the condemnation off and that your kindness would truly lead us to repentance so be honored today we give this time of worship to you in Jesus name

Channel: Lean-into-God

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Id: -2S_qes4lFE

Length: 59min 14sec (3554 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 20 2020