10. The Preterist Approach to Revelation

originally I had thought this class would be 12 weeks long once I was into it there was a little renegotiation of the schedule I'm not complaining and it reduced the the 12 weeks to 10 which means the three weeks I was going to spend doing what I'm doing this morning has been truncated severely I am working my best not to sound like I'm in a panic this morning trying to get through it I'm going to try to be leisurely but you will see the sweat coming down my face as we proceed so I apologize in advance if I seem a little bit frantic as we're going along it does seem to me if we're going to think about how to view any book of the Bible revelation or any other we need to at least ask the question of how is the task of hermeneutics that is biblical interpretation to be accomplished this is not uniquely to apply to revelation it applies to all the Bible and my friends it applies to any legitimate document representing human literary expression these are simply common-sense rules of interpretation the first of which is that we need to bear in mind that while a text may have many applications it has only one fundamental interpretation one fundamental meaning and the task of the interpreter is to get in touch with the original and intended sense of the text we must start there else we find ourselves in a sea of confusion and so in Revelation we want to find that one sense that is part of the original idea and we begin with the principle of the original intent the question we're asking is what did the original author mean to communicate to the original recipients and how did they most likely hear it this is called the historical grammatical method it's an attempt to try to ask what was the MA kind of the original correspondence here the writer the author the origin of the document and the recipients of it it's not always an easy thing to do but unless we do it we've really cut ourselves free from any objective standard by which to try to judge the meaning of a text well the one of the things we have to do in that connection is ask the contextual question what's the context of the document this begins with its historical context we've said Revelation is very likely a document produced early in the in the persecution launched by Nero probably about the year 6566 written to perfectly definite churches existing in Asia Minor you can go visit them to this day those cities are still there or the ruins thereof these were historical recipients of the document living in a particular circumstance of history and this book was written originally for them we also asked what's the biblical context of the writing revelation surprisingly enough as part of the Bible and yet strangely people will take Revelation rip it away from the Bible and use it in the most extraordinarily different ways from the way they would view the rest of the Bible you see what I'm saying it almost as if it kind of parts company with the rest of the Canon well if we apply rules to the rest of the Bible we should apply those same rules in Revelation there's no warrant to sort of take leave of our senses and view the book in very very different ways than we would have necessarily seen the rest of the Bible finally if we're looking at a particular text in Revelation is there any guidance in the immediate context of that text one of the things you discover is that if you read revelation which I hope you've all done many times by now it'll help you a lot in our present conversation you'll find that throughout Revelation there are certain texts that are obscure duh and there are certain texts that are clear oddly enough people tend to fixate on the obscure 10 texts and ignore the clear ones but the rule of hermeneutics is rational priority namely I first of all seize on the texts that are clear lucid explicit unambiguous in their meaning and I use those texts to shed light on texts that are more obscure that's the proper procedure when we reverse the order and immediately lock on to the obscure text and use that to interpret the rest of the book again we get ourselves into some difficulty so the rule is clear texts shed light on obscure texts the principle of genre revelation has multiple literary genres a Pecha apocalyptic is the most conspicuous it also has narrative it has didactic it has poetic all of these are also genres found throughout the rest of the scriptures and so if we find a particular image a particular idea in Revelation we should at least first of all ask is that idea is that image is that picture found elsewhere in the Bible and if so can we find in those other texts in the Old Testament or New Testament some guidance as to how possibly it's going to be viewed in Revelation so we're asking the question of literary genre we're asking whether these forms of genre have counterparts elsewhere all right finally a couple of preliminary observations about the book the fundamental theme of the book of Revelation is announced in the first verse hey apocalypses - Cris - yay sue the apocalypse the unveiling literally of Jesus Christ this is what the Bible is about what the book of Revelation is about it is not the apocalypse of geopolitical events thousands of years in the future that's not the stated theme of the book Jesus came and lived among us the single greatest event of all human history he came as God eternal and dwelt among us but you see if we had been there back in that historical setting we might have missed it because it was not evident that this is eternal God he came in the form of a servant he came in the form of he came in the form of humility this is what theologians call Christ's incognito and there was a sense in which there was a kind of ordinariness about the man even though he was God among us but there came a time when we ripped the veil away and said this is the one this is God Almighty this is the Christ of eternity who was here among us and in a way the book of Revelation is doing that it's the apocalypse it's the unveiling of this one this is the one who lived among us this is the one who we now must fall down prostrate in worship because he is uniquely deserving of it that's the stated theme of the book its purpose to give comfort to beleaguered people Christian people facing persecution needed encouragement this book was intended to encourage them I might add by way of application it can be used throughout Christian history because every day of Christian history including today Christian people are being persecuted and in some cases martyred for their faith and they need this word of comfort so the book can be applied at all times in history but the first task is to ask how was it received consumed by its original audience what was its meaning to them fundamental timing of the book again and again you noted it in the last chapter and it's sprinkled throughout the book the things described herein are just about to happen this is one of the most perplexing problems to people who view the book as describing the distant future because the Greek is absolutely unambiguous there is no refuge in it in many ways it's stronger than the English form these things are just about to happen if in fact that statement is taken at face value and those things were not just about to happen but we're going to happen of years in the future it makes the book fundamentally dishonest the people who read it first would have at the face value immediately taken this to mean what is described here is going to happen within the next few days months and years but not 2,000 years later you see finally the fundamental message the message of the book of Revelation is right at the very center of the book almost literally the center of the book you know what it is the kingdom of this world has become what the kingdom of our God and of his Christ George Handel understood this that's why he put the Hallelujah Chorus at the middle of the Messiah not at the end because the great climax is in the middle when Christ broke into the middle of human history and took back the kingdom that had been usurped by Satan and once again restored his rightful position as king of the universe all authority is given unto me he ascends to his throne and this is properly the inauguration of the kingdom the inauguration of the messianic age there is the dismantling of the old and those who come to it went down in judgment with it and there is the inauguration of the new this cup is the New Covenant in my blood there is a newness that is announced in Revelation and this is the fundamental meaning of what's going on that there's judgment and there's also this new dawning of a new day as it were in Christ alright the structure of the book as you know is organized around three sets of seven seven seals seven trumpets seven vials the seals seal a scroll the scroll would from a first-century point of view certainly be a last will and testament it's really the only kind of document that would fit that description jesus said this is the New Covenant in my blood the new test the new last will and testament is it were sealed in his blood the trumpets throughout the Bible Herald something they announced war or peace or a gathering or something they're always a signal of something that is about to occur so we have the heralding of these judgments of this Redemption and then corresponding virtually point four point with the trumpets is the execution of the same judgment so if you read the trumpets and read the vials you'll see that they more or less correspond to each other right down most of the list when we look at the first part of this and I'm just going to be doing a rapid-fire kind of outline to the book we'll just see how far we get but it begins in this heavenly sanctuary John is transported into a place where he sees a throne we're given to understand of course that that means all that happens in this book is under the sovereign Dominion of God nothing is spinning out of control he's surrounded by twenty-four elders the Greek word is pres Buda Roy so it really means he's surrounded by 24 Presbyterians you know I'm just saying and so anyway but these represent of course all the people of God down through history 24 is 12 from the old 12 from the new the 12 tribes of Israel the 12 apostles of the Lamb gathered together this is the great family of God through history all represented in these people worshiping at the feet of a sovereign God there's a sea of glass answering to that labor that was there before the tabernacle in the Old Testament we don't come before God unless we've been washed the waters of baptism wash away you see the uncleanness so that we understand there's a washing of regeneration that takes place as well by which we come before the presence of God we have for living KATUSA that's the word for creatures or creations and it stands for all of the idealized expression of creation the lie in the ox the mane the eagle all of these of course unite together in a great celebration of praise to God the Creator chapter 4 of Revelation largely celebrates God as creator chapter five celebrates God as Redeemer so in chapter five were introduced to the great central redemptive symbol of the Bible the Covenant the New Covenant announced in the Old Testament but realized in Christ it's a scroll with seven seals but it doesn't look like anyone can open it it's like a last will and testament is going to be read but nobody has the authority to open the thing and find out what's inside and so it seems that all is lost John weeps and weeps because it doesn't look that anybody is worthy to break those seals but then of course we hear that there is one the Lion of the tribe of Judah who was at the same time the lamb looking as if it had been slain this one is qualified to be the king because he became the lamb first of all he can come he can take the scroll he can open its seals he can inaugurate this new covenant era at that there's a celebration of praise one of these moments of pure lucidity in the book of revelation chapter 4 the song of the Seraphim holy holy holy Lord God Almighty who was and who is and who is to come you are worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for you created all things and by your will they exist and were created notice chapter 4 celebrates God as creator then in chapter 5 the lamb breaking the seals you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain and when you have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation you've made us to be kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on earth the people of God my friends reign in history you may not know it you may not feel it because this is not political reign necessarily it's not the reign of human authority necessary it's the reign the power the authority that comes through the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of the rider on the horse there is no greater power in this world than the power of the word of God and that power has again and again pushed back the very gates of hell and we as we saturate ourselves with that word and articulated into a desperately need II world are reigning with Christ on earth worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing blessing and honor and glory and power be to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever this brings us to the sixth chapter which is the unbraided the breaking of the seals as the seals are broken it stands for the beginning of the new covenant era and it came with tumultuous upheaval so the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse the first one Christ Himself the Messiah the rider on the white horse identified as such in chapter 19 he's given the accoutrements of rule a bow a crown a mission of conquest the entire New Testament breathes this idea that Christ has ascended to his throne and is now reconciling all things to himself things in heaven things on earth it's a gradual process however growing like a mustard seed through human history this growth is taking place through God's people it takes place it goes on for an indeterminate amount of time we don't know how long with the fundamental theme of what's happening is stated by Paul first Corinthians 15 he must reign until he puts all enemies under his feet the last to be destroyed is death itself at the great resurrection at the same time this era in history was accompanied by wars and rumors of wars the red horse the horseman who takes peace from the land who is responsible you see four people killing each other as the text itself says and of course we have ample evidence that that's what's going on the wars and rumors of wars around Giroux of course are well documented but it also spread across the Empire it seemed to many that the whole empire was collapsing in the face of civil conflict at this very same moment the year of four Emperor's was a time of almost a complete political meltdown in Rome as well as in Jerusalem and people reading this could have identified those kinds of things at that moment jesus said in the Olivet discourse when you hear of wars and commotions do not be terrified for these things must come to pass first but the end will not come immediately the end of that Old Covenant era then he said to them nation must rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom the most complete eyewitness to these events in the Jerusalem vicinity was Flavius Josephus he writes in blood-curdling detail about what was going on in Jerusalem and in the surrounding area era during this time he writes for example these words quote every city was divided into two armies encamped against one another and the preservation of the one party was in the destruction of the other so the day time was spent in the shedding of blood in the night in fear it was then common to see cities filled with dead bodies still lying unburied and those of old men mixed with infants all dead and scattered about together women also lay among them without any covering for their nakedness you might then see the whole province full of inexpressible calamities while dread of still more barbarous practices which were threatened was everywhere greater than had already been perpetrated he goes on in much much greater length detailing to the point of being nauseating really in some cases what was going on the Black Horse artificial famine siege induced famine we hear of astronomical inflation a quart of wheat for a day's wages three quarts of barley for a day's wages that's a thousand percent inflation and yet at the same time we here don't have any don't harm the oil and the wine some people are live ease outside the walls of Jerusalem while some people are in unspeakable and ghastly circumstances of desperate famine conditions within the city all at the same time this is a realisation in rather graphic detail of what Moses himself had predicted if you go back to the books of Moses you of course understand that Moses gave to his people a great covenant we call it the Mosaic Covenant and it was a promise of great blessing but at the same time very severe warnings in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 in particular those warnings are spelled out in very disturbing detail what's astonishing is if you read what Moses predicted in those chapters Leviticus 26 Deuteronomy 28 and compared with what actually happened in Jerusalem it is stunning in the extreme the degree to which one is the realization of the other just by way of a sampling this is from Moses in Deuteronomy 28 they shall besiege you in all your gates until you're high in fortified walls in which you trust come down throughout all your land and they shall besiege you at all your gates throughout all your lands which the Lord your God has given you you shall eat the flesh eat the fruit of your own body the flesh of your sons and your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you Josephus gives us ample evidence that is precisely what happened as the city sank into the most unbelievable cannibalism in the desperation of the famine that took place in that era in the year 70 Josephus gives us this description as the famine grew worse the frenzy of the insurgents kept pace with it and every day both these horrors burned more fiercely for since nowhere was grain to be seen men would break into houses and if they found some they mislead a mystery to the occupants for having deny they're possession of it if they found none they tortured them as if they had concealed it more carefully the point is that as you read Josephus the best eye witness of these events and compared with the predictions it's rather startling how much there is correspondence the final horse The Pale Horse is the classic destruction by the four curses of the Old Testament famine plague wild beasts of the earth and sword these parallel again Leviticus 26 Deuteronomy 28 they also are announced repeatedly in the prophets the fourfold curses you find it at Ezekiel 14 you find it in Ezekiel chapter 5 and elsewhere those are the Horsemen of the Apocalypse describing what was actually happening in the first century in these horrific times then the fifth seal gives us a picture of the souls under the altar we're told by John when he opened the fifth seal I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of their testimony for God and because of the Word of God they cried out in a loud voice how long Sovereign Lord holy and true leave until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood these are the souls of the martyrs in Jerusalem all of them down through human history not just in the New Testament era and there were plenty then but throughout history Jesus himself said it is impossible for a prophet to die except in what Jerusalem you see and the blood of the martyrs pools as it were from God's point of view under the altar it's the altar there in the temple area where all this blood of all these martyrs accumulates crying out to the Lord for vindication how long till you vindicate us it cries out as a sacrifice to God who offered these sacrifices the religious elite the religious establishment those who were corrupted who actually murdered Christ and led the people astray those against whom Christ pronounced the dreadful wool Oracle's of Matthew 23 these are the ones responsible for offering those sacrifices creating blood cry hangout for vindication Jesus of course spoke eloquently and powerfully to this you're familiar with Matthew chapter 23 these are his wool Oracle's against the religious leaders of the city who in many cases were leading willing followers in their corrupt treason against their covenant Lord and Jesus says this therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets fill up then the measure of your father's guilt serpents brood of vipers how can you escape the condemnation of hell therefore indeed I send you prophets wise men scribes some of them you will kill and crucify some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth from the blood of righteous abel to the blood of zechariah the son of berechiah whom you murdered between the temple and the altar assuredly I say to you all these things will come on this generation and I believe the book of Revelation is simply giving us an apocalyptic description of that very judgment that Jesus himself predicted then we have the sixth seal descriptions of a kind of D creation when he opened the sixth seal there was a great earthquake the Sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair the whole moon turned blood red the stars in the sky fell to the earth like figs dropping from a fig tree we with our Western tradition tend to be very literalistic we don't realize poetry when we see it but this is typical Old Testament prophetic poetry it's a way of describing in poetic terms political collapse the heavens are supposed to stand for all the things that make our lives secure and predictable but in a sense in a poetic way when everything collapses when anarchy takes over it's as if the very heavens turned against us this is the way the Old Testament prophets spoke example Isaiah the prophet describes the fall of Babylon politically with these words behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with both wrath and fierce anger to lay the land desolate he will destroy hid sinners from it the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light The Sun will be darkened and it's going forth the moon will not cause its light to shine what was happening Babylon was collapsing from their point of view it felt like all of the heavenly bodies were spinning out of control one century earlier the same Babylon attacked Egypt Ezekiel describes the experience of the Egyptians as they're being attacked by the Babylonians in these words I will also water the land with the flow of your blood even to the mountains and the riverbeds will be full of you when I put out your light I will cover the heavens I will make it stars dark I will cover the Sun with a cloud and the moon shall not give her light all the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you and bring darkness upon your land says the Lord political collapse described in these kinds of celestial terms poetically this is exactly what Peter does on the pay up day of Pentecost he is construing the meaning of these people speaking in tongues it was a dual sign a sign of redemption but also a sign of judgment and Peter himself preaching says this quoting from Joel I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath blood and fire and vapor of smoke the Sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved you see the idea and this is I'm just giving you samples of this this is the way this language is used and when we leap in reading revelation to a different idea and a different interpretive way of viewing those things I think we get ourselves into trouble we also hear in this text that the leaders of the land the political leaders will cry out in terror John says in Revelation six then the kings of the land the princes the generals the rich the mighty every slave and free man hidden caves and among rocks of the mountains they called to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of their wrath the wrath of the Lamb you sees crucified in that city the wrath of the Lamb has now come and who can stand Jesus himself predicted as much as he was being led out to be crucified as Luke tells us and a great multitude of the people followed him and women who also mourned and lamented him but Jesus turning to them said daughters of Jerusalem do not weep for me weep for yourselves and for your children indeed the days are coming in which they will say blessed are the barren wombs that never bore breasts that never nursed and they will call to the mountains fall on us and to the hills cover us between the sixth and seventh seals is a little interlude in which we hear of the protection of God's people this is chapter 7 the 144,000 denominated as the twelve tribes of Israel these are Christian believers who were Jewish who are protected by a seal so in spite of the cataclysms that are be falling all around them they are protected at the same time coming out the other end of that Great Tribulation and explosion of believers from all around the world every nation tribe language and people and innumerable multitude standing before the throne waving palm branches we hear in Chapter 7 the point is that God protects his beleaguered Jewish Christian followers going into this tribulation and yet the Christian message exploded to the world over the next decades as a result of the events that took place at this time this is a realization of a picture that is painted for us many times in the Old Testament in which Messiah comes not simply as the Messiah to the Jewish people but the Messiah to the world Isaiah 49 indeed he says it is too small a thing you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel I will make you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth that brings us to the seventh trumpet the seventh trumpet I'm sorry brings us to the Seventh Seal which inaugurates then the seventh trumpet the seven trumpets are presented or introduced in a strange little text right at the beginning of chapter 8 in which there we're told there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour now if we were Jewish readers of that text in the first century we would almost in a in two intuitively identify that with the hour of prayer at the temple it was actually about a half hour procedure in which the priests would take incense into the holy place and offer it on the altar of incense there and it was the hour of prayer it was a standard part of the daily regime of the Jewish people in this case we have something like that going on only we hear that there's an angel with a sensor the sensor is filled with incense we're told expressly the incense is the prayers of all the saints those are prayers of course for vindication because God's people are beleaguered they're persecuted they're being attacked and harried in the not only in Jerusalem but around the Empire they're praying for protection and vindication this angel takes the incense in offers it on the altar of incense comes out and then as if an answer to those prayers hurls to the earth the judgments that are going to come as God vindicates his people the seventh of the seven trumpets is interesting identified with the disclosing of the Ark of the Covenant it reminds us a little bit of the trumpets that surrounded Jericho and the seventh trumpet rolled out the Ark of the Covenant you recall that rather dramatic story in the Old Testament there's some some of seeing a parallel between the two here all right what are the seven trumpets I got I'm not going to go through these in detail because time is after me here but the first four kind of again describing the collapse of political and natural order the last three of the trumpets are also called woes the first of them locusts that come out of the abyss the abyss in Revelation stands for the place of diabolical rule it's the place of Satan's haunts and now is it were these diabolical demonic forces are Unleashed and the city itself goes into a kind of anarchic meltdown in which nobody's in control in which open chaos is ruling in which you are constantly living in fear of hunger and life and limb and bloodshed and it's made even worse by a demonic attack from the outside in which now these these horses as they're described come and attack the city so attacking from within attacking from without and just before the third trumpet sounds we once again have a little interlude once again the people of God are highlighted the first time chapter 7 was the protection of God's people chapter 10 and 11 the mission of God's people an angel comes down from heaven great Authority great power Christ himself certainly holding a little book that lays open in his hand the Gospel message that simple message that is carried to the world and brings the possibility of salvation to all who hear it John is told in Chapter 11 to measure the temple in the Bible to measure something is tantamount to protecting it it's not the entire temple it's the nail since the inner sanctum the Holy of Holies we would say the place of true worship at the same time the outer temple is to be trampled under the Gentiles in a sense what it's saying is the visible temple is to be destroyed while the people of God the true people of God protected in that inner sanctum are commissioned with their job of taking that little scroll that they've now Eden you see as John did to the world there are the two witnesses the two witnesses of course bringing their condemning message against Jerusalem which rejected her Messiah most likely Moses and Elijah the two witnesses who were there with Jesus at the Transfiguration the law and the profits is really what they represent the condemning message to the people of God was their own Bible the law and the prophets gave them ample warning of the things that were befalling them this brings us to the third woe which is indeed the seventh trumpet it is the realization of Jesus saying to his disciples all authority is given unto me go disciple the nation's heaven is opened the Ark of the Covenant appears the centerpiece the heart of the book of Revelation the seventh angel sounded his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven that said the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his christ and he will reign forever and at that moment the twenty-four elders fall down before God they worship God they say to Christ now ruling we give thanks to You Lord God Almighty the one who is and who was because you have taken your great power and have begun to raid the nations were angry but your wrath has come the time has come for judging or that can read vindicating more or less vindicating God's dead through history vindicating the dead rewarding your servants the prophets and your Saints and those who reverence your name both small and great and destroying those who destroy the earth all right we have seven vials in chapter 16 between chapters 11 and set and 15 really you've got three chapters which are a kind of apocalyptic description of what took place in the first century it's really not hard to follow we're told of a woman who gives birth to a son who will rule the nations with a rod of iron but we're told that that son is attacked by a dragon humanly we think of Herod but of course it's vastly deeper than that diabolical attacks on this one but the son is caught up to the throne there is war in heaven and Satan loses Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil he came to displace Satan from his position as the Prince of the power of the air and that conflict was fought and won by King Jesus in the first century and Satan was cast out he went after the woman but she was carried away she was protected literally in the southern Judean wilderness there away from the destruction of Jerusalem at which time we're told that Satan turned his attack against the rest of her children that is the rest of Christian believers throughout the empire summoning two minions one a beast from the sea the beast from the sea of course Rome the beast from the earth the land would be Israel corrupt state corrupt Church United that's an ugly recipe you know and we've seen a lot of that in history but here we see it for it's maybe in its more dramatic expression at this point the seal nevertheless in chapter 14 are protected and we have seven angels who now announce the unfolding of this final set we're almost done the seven vials I'm not going to go through these in detail time doesn't permit it but there's a preamble chapter 15 the sort of shortest chapter in Revelation talks about God's people standing beside a sea and they're singing the song of Moses and of course the song of Moses is the Exodus song that's the song of Moses the song of celebration when God's people escaped from a place where judgment is about to fall thus in the book of Revelation 3 there's three kind of cities or civilizations that identify this Sodom Egypt Babylon in all three cases God's people escaped judgment just before it fell these people are singing the song of Moses they've escaped the judgment just before it falls and then immediately we hear of those judgments the first four paralleling the first four trumpets land sea rivers and Sun the fifth is judgment on the throne of the Beast we're told this is Rome itself that goes into a virtual meltdown at this moment right along with those things that we're surrounding Jerusalem Tacitus gives us this description a kind of surreal picture of what was happening at Rome at the very moment that Jerusalem was falling Rome itself seemed to be falling as well the whole city Tacitus says presented a frightful caricature of its normal self fighting and casualties at one point bands and restaurants at another the strange kind of kaleidoscope you see of impressions here the spilling of blood and the litter of dead bodies close by prostitutes and their like all the vice associated with a life of idleness and pleasure all the dreadful deeds typical typical of a pitiless sack and Tacitus himself openly despaired at the time that Rome would ever survive this the sixth seal stands for the judgement on Jerusalem this is called the Battle of Armageddon which has been greatly of course given a life of its own but this is really the context where that reference is made the image that's drawn here is to cyrus destroying babylon you recall he lowered the river Euphrates so that he could attack Babylon now this new Babylon is so identified in the same way the rivers of the Euphrates are dried up so that the kings of the east can come across that's the way revelation puts it it was to recall that dramatic moment in the Old Testament and sort of draw a kind of a parallel picture these demonic attackers these frogs as it were come against Jerusalem attacking her and this really leads us to the seventh where the judgments are completed all right the last part of Revelation is as I've told you before A Tale of Two Cities there is an old Jerusalem a harlot city that is being set aside there is a new Jerusalem a faithful bride that is being introduced the people of God who have been faithful through history are very much part of this New Jerusalem those who have committed treason against their covenant husband are regarded as the harlot city the false bride this harlot is fulfilling the extensive kind of harlot motif of the Old Testament describing God's people repudiating the authority of their covenant Lord she sits on a scarlet beast Jerusalem was propped up by Rome that's why you have a woman sitting on a beast carried along by this beast that has seven heads and ten horns and of course we're told it's the city of Seven Hills we're told at seven kings five ax fallen one is the other is not yet come there's no escaping it's got to be Rome Rome was propping up the religious leadership in the city of Jerusalem there was a relationship between them that was at the very best unhealthy in many ways openly corrupt Rome's war began as a Rome as a war on God's people Nero launched his original attack against Christian people revelation 17 says but they are protected because they are under the care of Christ that attack on God's people the Christians transformed itself into an attack on the city of Jerusalem they will hate the woman they will eat her flesh they will burn her with fire they will fulfill God's purposes against her which is what seems to have happened dramatically leads to chapter 18 a great lament because the collapse of Jerusalem sent an economic shockwave around the world there's all kinds of documentation I don't have time to read this lengthy quotes all just tell you at the heart of it it simply documents the huge amount of wealth that was concentrated in Jerusalem and how many merchants and traders retailers from around the world depended on Jerusalem as a revenue stream for them and when Jerusalem went down in 70 the impact across the Empire was almost incalculable chapter 19 gives us the other city the other bride the faithful bride who's brought in she rejoices over the fall of this city which had then responsible for so much shedding of blood so much martyrdom this is chapter 19 this is also the church which rides into the pages of history behind their king came Jesus on the white horse the sword coming out of his mouth those who follow him are also riding on white horses we're told and they are red dressed in white garments and we're specifically told the white garments are the deeds the good deeds of God's people the war the weapons of our warfare down through history have not been bombs and bazookas we've never done well with that stuff but we've done very well with building hospitals building schools feeding the hungry clothing the naked doing good deeds let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father who is in heaven and that's what the church has been about and that's been the weapons of our warfare in the middle of all of those good deeds has been announcement of the gospel of Jesus Christ the power of his word inspiring the works that we have performed have been one of the greatest Testaments to God's faithfulness down through church history in spite of the fact that we've screwed up a whole lot along the way you know and so it's really quite a remarkable expression I think of God's work in history through his church the reign of Christ lasts for a thousand years Agustin thought that was in an indeterminate amount of time just a long time in which the growth of his kingdom continues to be realized in history culminating of course in the great white throne the final judgement at the end of history there's a vision of the bride chapter 21 mixing a vision of the bride in time with the idealized expression of God's people and eternity there's a wonderful benediction the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ rest on you all amen it is straight up 11 o'clock and that my friends is the apocalypse in space and time and my only little a 30 second Sunday School lesson is back to that last little point we were making we are the people of God we are responsible for more good quantitatively speaking in history than any other single force we have done so much in spite of the fits and starts the squabbles the the you know the bickering I mean who would have guessed it and yet we the people of God have been responsible for so much and it really does in a sense represent an astonishing expression realizing the vision of God's people we are broken beyond repair you would think but we carry in these broken vessels a rich treasure Christ himself and so let's just continue to be about the business of being God's people whether you by this view of Revelation or not I just floated you know but I think I really think it's satisfying hopefully it is at least intriguing to you but more than that let's really be God's people as we continue the labors to which he hasn't called us you

Channel: Bruce Gore

Views: 75,639

Rating: 4.7205591 out of 5

Keywords: Revelation Preterist Apocalypse Bruce Gore Destruction Jewish Temple Vespasian Titus

Id: 10FRxJ4_yJo

Length: 48min 3sec (2883 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 16 2015