[MUSIC PLAYING] The Bible from 30,000 Feet,
soaring through the Scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Let's have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for
Your word and thank you, Lord, that we have been able to,
over the course of time, been able to browse all 66
books to get a working knowledge of the grand themes
of this book, these books, all 66, but Your book,
Your revelation, the Bible. Lord, I pray that as we
go through this last book, that it would bring what the
author promised it would bring, what You promised
it would bring, and that is joy to our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. OK, here we go. Buckle your seat belt. We're
going to move kind of fast. Somebody once said
that we should all be concerned about the
future, because we're going to have to spend the
rest of our lives there. And yet, I love what
Abraham Lincoln said. He said, the great
thing about the future is it only comes
one day at a time. So we do, in this book,
look to the future. It is daunting to
read when we discover what the Bible predicts
the future will be like. But we are living
one day at a time as we march forward to the
grand event of all events, the return of Jesus
Christ to take control of this crazy
planet that he created and that we ruined. You are looking at the
book of Revelation. It is not an allegory. It is not a fantasy. It is not poetry. It is not legendary prose. It is predictive prophecy. And as you know, I take
the Bible literally, though I certainly give
margin for literature that is figurative in nature
but points to a reality, like the Book of
Revelation does. The book of Revelation
gives more details about the end of days, the
last days of human history, and on into the eternal
state than any other book in the Bible. A lot of books are
prophetic and feed into the Book of Revelation,
like Daniel and others-- Matthew 24, the words of
Jesus in the Olivet discourse. But the Book of
Revelation really unpacks and reveals in detail
the great tribulation period, the coming of the man of sin-- that's what Paul
called the Antichrist. John called him the Antichrist. The final conflict
in the Middle East, the return of Jesus Christ,
the millennial kingdom, the eternal state-- all of that is worked out in
this last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation. It is predictive prophecy. Sad to say, many
people have been afraid of the Book of Revelation. Just reading through it,
it's like, this is weird. This is scary. You know, stars falling from
Heaven, burning up the Earth, and this many people dying. It can be freaky. I knew people in the
world, before I was saved, that used to do LSD and
read the Book of Revelation. Not a good thing to do. First of all, it's
just not a good thing to take LSD in general. And then to read
Revelation on top of that, it's not a good way to interpret
the Book of Revelation, and it could make for some
very interesting and damaging results. But people are
afraid, many times, because they don't get it. They don't understand it. Now, my contention is
the Book of Revelation is something you can
understand, hence the book You Can Understand
the Book of Revelation. And it's something God wants you
to understand, because the name itself is the revelation, right? God is wanting to
show you something. He's wanting to
reveal something to. So it's not meant to
be cryptic nor hidden. It is meant to be revealed. But people have
been afraid of it. In fact, they call it-- they call prophecy, in general-- a distraction. You shouldn't really
dwell on future prophecy. It is a distraction. Well, if that is the case,
God has certainly put a lot of distractions
in the Bible, because 1/4 of the word of
God is predictive prophecy. That's 25% is prophetic. But people have
been afraid of it. Martin Luther didn't
like this book. At one point, he didn't think
it was to be held as scripture. He divided all of scripture
up into two categories, what he called heterolegomena
and antilegomena-- that is approved authentic
books and then disputed texts. Antilegomena-- disputed
texts, disputed books. And he had seven books in
that category, and one of them was the Book of Revelation. He didn't like it. John Calvin didn't
particularly like it. He wrote a commentary on all
of the New Testament books except one. Guess which one. Book of Revelation. Now, if you don't
read it literally and if you are an
amillennialist-- I think I'll describe
more of that next week when we're dealing with the
millennial kingdom in chapter 20-- then you're probably inclined
toward that way of thinking, to sort of dismiss it. It's not for today. It's all allegorical. It's not really
meant to be taken in any literal fashion at all. It doesn't mean what
it says it means. It means something else. I always answer that
by saying, pray tell, then tell me what it does mean. And I don't get a
good answer when people say it's all allegory. They can't definitively tell
me what it actually means. But I don't think we should be
afraid of it, obviously, hence the book You Can Understand
the Book of Revelation, and the fact that we have taught
through the Book of Revelation on several occasions. Something else-- in Calvin's
day and Luther's day, the events that are written
in this Book of Revelation and the scale to which they
will occur in the future seemed hardly possible
to ever be fulfilled. Today, we read the
Book of Revelation, it seems highly probable. I mean, you read this going,
I could see this happening, and I could see it actually
happening in short order. So it begins, in verse 1, the
revelation of Jesus Christ. The word revelation
is apokalypsus. We get the term
apocalypse from it. Now, when a person
thinks of an apocalypse, they think of a catastrophe. They think of total destruction. That's the dictionary meaning
of the word apocalypse. If you look it up in an
American or English dictionary, it's the total destruction
of everything-- apocalypse. That is not the meaning
of the original Greek word apocalypse, apokalypsus. It is a word used 18 times
in the New Testament, and it means to
disclose or to reveal-- to disclose or to reveal. And what does it reveal? It is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. So it's like in verse 1,
the author saying, ladies and gentlemen, Jesus Christ. Right up front,
right off the bat, the revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his
servants things which must shortly take place. And he sent and signified it by
his angel to his servant John. It's interesting that
Martin Luther said, one of the reasons I dislike
the Book of Revelation is that it does not recognize
nor describe Jesus Christ. I find that an
alarming statement from the lips of Martin Luther. It does not recognize
Jesus Christ? Martin, man, you
are so right on when it came to the reformation. You are so off base when
it comes to the revelation. It's all about Jesus Christ. Chapter 2 and 3, Jesus
is seen as the master, the Lord, presiding
over his church. Chapter 4 and 5, he's
the glorified lamb of God in the courts of
Heaven being worshipped by the throngs in Heaven. Chapter 6 through 19, he is the
judge meting out God's wrath upon the Earth. Chapter 19, he is the returning
Lord of Lord and King of Kings. Chapter 20, he is
the bridegroom ruling over the newly revised
millennial creation for 1,000 years with his bride. Chapter 21 and 22, he
is the illumination of the new Jerusalem and the
new Heaven and the new Earth. He's all over the book. He is all throughout it. He is highly exalted. In fact, a vision of him
occurs in the first chapter. We'll get to that. But a couple of more
preliminary words in verse 1. And I know, we want
to cover this through. We're going to cover half
the book, God willing. If not, we always
have next week. But notice what it says. The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God-- that is God the Father--
gave to him, gave to Jesus, to show his servants. God gave it to Jesus. Jesus gave it to John. And he sent and signified it by
his angel to his servant John. But notice in verse
1, it says things which must shortly take place. To me, that's a key phrase,
shortly, because you're reading that going, shortly? That was written
2,000 years ago. Shortly? Could you define shortly,
John or Jesus, or God, since it came from you? Shortly? The word here is important. It's the word in Greek, two
words, [SPEAKING GREEK].. is the Greek word from which
we get the word tachometer. And you know a tachometer
is an instrument that measures the velocity. And the idea is that once the
events begin to take place, they will take place
rapidly, shortly. Once the events take
place written about, it's not going to
be a long time. It might take a long
time to get up to that, but once they start
ticking off, there's going to be a velocity to it. That's what I think
Jesus meant when he said, unless those
days were shortened, there would be no flesh saved,
but for the elect's sake, those days will be
shortened, speaking of the days of the
tribulation period. So, verse 2, "who bore
witness to the word of God--" that is John-- "and to the
testimony of Jesus Christ, through all things that he saw. Blessed is he who
reads and those who hear the words
of this prophecy and keep those things
which are written in it, for the time is near." John wrote this on the
rocky island of Patmos. It's about 25 miles
out in the sea off the coast of modern-day
Turkey, ancient Asia Minor. It was a penal
colony at the time. It's a small, very barren
island, only six miles wide by about 10 miles long. But notice verse 3, the promise. It's the only book that
has this promise in it. "Blessed is he who
reads and those who hear the words
of this prophecy and keep those things
that are written in it." The word blessed could be
translated "oh, the joys" or "oh, how happy" are
those who read this book. Now, if you're familiar
with the Book of Revelation, that might strike you
as an odd promise. Because you read the
Book of Revelation, get into chapter six,
and people are dying and plant life is
getting destroyed and the seas are
getting polluted. And it seems pretty catastrophic
and pretty disastrous and pretty grim. Where's the joy in that? Keep reading. Keep reading all
the way to the end. That's where the joy kicks in. Because it eventuates
in the return of Jesus ruling and
reigning, judging Satan, putting him away, the millennial
kingdom, the eternal state, new Heaven and a new Earth. It gets better if
you keep on going. So the book has a promise-- a promise of joy. And I think you will rob
yourself of a lot of joy if you neglect this book. Also, I'm going to take you
to the very end of the book. In chapter 22, it is
repeated in verse 6. "Then he said to me, these
words are faithful and true, and the Lord God
of the holy prophet sent his angel to show his
servants the things which must--" here it is again-- "shortly take place. Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed--" or the one
who is full of joy. "Blessed, oh how happy
is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." Billy Graham was once asked
by a group of senators, said, Billy, are you are
you an optimist or are you a pessimist? He goes, I'm an optimist. And they said, why is that? He goes, because I've read
the last page of the book. And we win. The devil is bound
for 1,000 years. Satan is eventually destroyed. We rule and reign
with Him forever. Because of that,
I'm an optimist. So it's promised great joy. Lewis Talbot, I couldn't
resist reading this to you, said, "The devil has
turned thousands of people away from this
portion of God's word. He does not want anyone
to read a book that tells of his being
cast out of Heaven, nor is he anxious for us to
read of the ultimate triumph of his number one
enemy, Jesus Christ. The more you study the
Book of Revelation, the more you
understand why Satan fights so hard to keep
God's people away from it." So it is a book of
prophecy that predicts the ultimate and
total rule and reign of Christ over his creation,
the total demise of Satan after his incarceration
and judgment. But it is a special
kind of prophecy. It's not like 0.1, the rapture
of the church, and then a little theology to follow,
0.2, the tribulation period. It is written very differently. Notice what it says in verse 1. You say, Skip, you've got
to get out of verse 1. It says, "and he sent
and--" what's the next word? Signified. That's an important word. It means to tell or
to reveal by signs. So it is written in a sign
language, a language of signs, the language of idioms. And here's why I believe-- when people say,
why is the language of revelation this
apocalyptic book? You know, instead
of just telling us what's going to
happen, there's beasts and there's lamp stands and
there's a sword going out of the mouth of Jesus. Why such picturesque language? Why such symbolism? A couple of reasons. Reason number one, symbolism
withstands time and culture. When something is
written like this, cultural, linguistic
barriers that change every couple of years-- the human language is fluid. It changes all the time. When you write
about it in signs, it transcends cultural
differences and time barriers. Number two, when
you write something with these kinds of
symbols, it makes a dramatic emotional impact. It's one thing to say,
there's coming a world leader. It's another thing
to describe him as a beast, a ferocious beast. That does something and it
heightens the emotional impact. And I think, for those
reasons, it is written. Something else-- these
idioms are foreign to us unless you are bathed
in the Old Testament. If you are a student
of the Old Testament, the idioms used in the book of
Revelation are familiar to you. Here's what I mean. Out of the 404 verses
that comprise the Book of Revelation-- that's how
many verses are in it-- 360 contain pieces of
Old Testament scripture. You will find all
of those idioms that are mentioned in this
book in the Old Testament. So it presupposes you
have a working knowledge of the Old Testament,
because when you get to the
Book of Revelation, there's a lot of
familiarity there. And I mentioned 360 out of 404. If you were to take all of the
allusions to the Old Testament, you would have well over 800
in the Book of Revelation. So for a first century Jewish
reader, makes perfect sense. For a 2020 post-COVID group of
believers in gentile regions, it might be a little more
difficult, but not to them. So the message of the
Book of Revelation, I'm going to take
you down to verse 9. No I'm not. I'm going to take you down
to verse 19, if I can. And here's what I want to show
you in chapter 1, verse 19. Luckily, we are given
by the author himself, in the first chapter,
an outline of the book. Now, I tell you why I like this,
because throughout The Bible From 30,000 Feet, I have
outlined the book for you. Sometimes I do it
with alliteration. Usually I do it that
way so you can remember it a little more easily. But I don't have to do that
in the Book of Revelation, because John, through Jesus,
through God the Father gives us his outline. And here it is. Chapter 1, verse 19, "write the
things which you have seen--" that's number one-- "the things which are--"
that's number two-- "and the things which will
take place after this." That's number three. Now, that is precisely how the
Book of Revelation is laid out. John first writes the
things that he sees. That is the vision of Jesus
Christ, this incredible vision that he had never seen
of the Lord Jesus before. Then he writes about seven
churches, the things which are, the conditions
that were going on in seven churches in
Asia Minor at that time. Then, beginning in chapter 4
to the very end of the book, he writes about things
that will take place after the things of the church. So in chapter 1, verse
19, where it says "and the things which
take place after this," the Greek words are
meta tauta, after this or beyond these, beyond
these things, meta tauta. And then when you get
to chapter 4, verse 1, it begins by saying "after these
things," and the word in Greek is exactly the same-- meta tauta. Beyond these, after these. So that is how the
book is written. He writes what he
sees, and then he writes the things which are,
the conditions of the seven churches in Asia Minor. Then he writes about
the future, what's going on after these things. So let's look at what he
sees, the things which are. Chapter 1, verse 9. We'll just skim
through some of this. "I, John, both your brother
and companion in tribulation and kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ, was on the island called
Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony
of Jesus Christ. I was in the spirit
on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud
voice as of a trumpet saying, I am the Alpha, the Omega,
the First, the Last. What you see, write
in a book and send it to the seven churches, which
are in Asia-- to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamus,
to Tyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia,
and to Laodicea. Then I turned to see the
voice that spoke with me, and having turned, I saw
seven golden lamp stands. And in the midst
of the seven lamp stands, one like the
son of man clothed with a garment down to his
feet, girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white
like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes like
a flame of fire. His feet were like fine brass,
as if refined in a furnace, and his voice as the
sound of many waters. In his right hand, seven stars. Out of his mouth was a
sharp, two-edged sword. His countenance was like the
sun shining in its strength. When I saw him," John writes,
"I fell at his feet as dead." But he laid his
right hand on him. "He said, Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last." Now, this is John the apostle. He walked with Jesus. He remembers seeing Jesus
face-to-face in the flesh. He saw Christ as the Nazarene. He was there when Jesus
was transfigured before him with Moses and Elijah. He saw the resurrected Christ. He watched Jesus
ascend into Heaven. But he had never seen a
Jesus that looks like this. Now John is in the
spirit, he says. In the spirit on the Lord's
day, or unto the day of the Lord it could be literally put. And in this capacity, he sees
Jesus as the coming judge. Now, if you're, again, familiar
with your Old Testament, Daniel chapter 7, the
vision John sees is similar to the vision
that is put out in that chapter in the
Old Testament book. But John sees Jesus
as the coming judge. Did you notice, in verse 13, he
is in the midst of seven lamp stands? And then there are
seven stars in verse 16. Luckily, we don't have to try
to figure out what that means. We don't have to make a guess. I think it means this
or it means that. We're told exactly what that
means in verse 20 of chapter 1. "The mystery of the
seven stars, which you saw in my right hand,
and the seven golden lamp stands, the seven
stars are the angels--" angelos, messengers
of the seven churches. "And the seven lamp
stands which you saw are the seven churches." So the seven churches are
depicted as seven lamp stands. How fitting that is. The role of the church
in any community is to be a bright
and shining light. Jesus said, you are
the light of the world. A city set upon a
hill cannot be hidden. To be more exact, our role as
light bearers, as a lamp stand, is to show people the
way out of darkness. How do you get out of
the desperate darkness of this world? You know the answer to that. It's following Jesus. It's loving Him. It's that personal
relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is a fitting
description of the church. Verse 15, "his feet
were like fine brass, as refined in a
furnace, and his voice like the sound of many waters." Brass is a symbol of
judgment as, again, you are familiar with from your
reading of the Old Testament. In the Tabernacle,
an animal was killed on an altar made of brass. The animal was bled
on the brass altar. It was engulfed in flames
on the brass altar. Brass is a symbol of judgment. The brass altar
was the place where sin was judged by God so that
the people could approach God in that tabernacle setting. Now, when we get to
chapter 2 of Revelation, we're now dealing with the
second part of the outline, the things which are, right? The things which you have
seen, he does that, right? The things which are, and
that's the things of the church. So it says, to the angel of
the church of Ephesus write. Chapter 2 and chapter
3 are seven letters to seven churches. Really, they're not letters. They're shorter than that. They're like seven
postcards to seven churches. If Jesus were to drop a postcard
in the mail to the churches, this is what they would read. Why seven? One thing you notice about
the Book of Revelation, it's very seven conscious. I don't have time to explain all
the symbolism and why that is. I've done that before. I have a short period of
time, so I'm going to move on. But there are seven churches. Why seven? Why these seven? There are seven churches
located in Asia Minor. We have traveled to visit
these ruins of the churches. They don't exist,
by the way, anymore. They're all overtaken by
Muslim mosques in these areas. But at the time, there
were seven growing churches that were facing persecutions
and temptations already to compromise. Now they're gone. The lamp stand has been removed
in these seven churches. But why these seven? For example, why isn't the
church in Jerusalem mentioned. That's a prominent church. Or the church in Antioch. That's probably the second
most prominent church. Or the church in Rome. That was probably the most
famous of the churches. None of those are mentioned,
but these are mentioned. The seven churches that are
listed in Revelation 2 and 3, these seven letters,
represent, number one, seven historical churches that
had these exact conditions going on in the assembly. Number two, the seven
letters to the seven churches speak about historical
conditions of the church. From the apostolic era to the
last days, the apostate era, all of the eras
of church history can be summed up by these seven
letters to seven churches. We have considered
that in other studies. You can look that
up and see how. But if you were to take
these seven letters and put them in any
other order historically, they would not fit. They fit perfectly in the
order in which they're given. So local conditions, there
is an historic application to the errors of church history. Number three, there is
a timeless application. It's for all
churches of all ages. And I would even say
there's a fourth. There is a personal application. You will read through these
conditions of these churches, and you will be able to
relate to one or more of them or all of them, depending on
where you are in your walk. You might be like the church
of Philadelphia one day, then you might feel like
the church of Laodicea the next day, depending
on what's going on. So it has several applications. Now, in all of these
letters that Jesus gives, He does two things. Number one, He borrows a portion
of the vision in chapter 1 to introduce Himself
to the church, and each one is different and
unique, a different and unique piece. And in all of the seven letters,
He says, I know your works. He makes an evaluation, but
He always begins by saying, I know your works. I know all about you. So he is the
perfect one to bring a judgment or an evaluation. He does that through
chapter 2 and chapter 3. I was going to draw
notice to them, but we don't have enough time. So I'll take you
over to chapter 3. Let's just look at the
last one in the list, verse 14 of chapter 3. "To the angel of the
church of the Laodiceans, write, these things
says thee, amen. The faithful and true
witness, the beginning of the creation of
God, I know your works, that you are cold nor hot. I wish that you
were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm
and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you
out of my mouth." Go down to verse 19. "As many as I love,
I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be
zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice
and opens the door, I will come into him and
dine with him and he with me. To him who overcomes,
I will grant to sit with me on my throne,
as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Typically, we quote
verse 20 to unbelievers or about unbelievers. "Behold, I stand at
the door and knock. If anyone will hear my
voice, open the door." And that does have
application, generally, but please notice,
in context, Jesus is speaking this
not to unbelievers but to his own church
which bears his own name. He is saying, I don't
want your rituals. I don't want you to go
through the motions. I want your heart. I want to have intimate
fellowship with you. That's the idea about
whoever opens the door, I will come in
and dine with him. You know, in the
ancient Middle East, even in the modern Middle
East, eating with someone is a very special
honor and privilege. And it was always seen that
when you ate with someone, you became one with that person. Because if I eat
bread and I give you a piece of the same
bread, that bread will eventually break
down and go in my body and become a part of
my body, and the bread will become a part of your body. So, in a sense, over the meal,
we're becoming one substance. We're one with each other. This is why, in 1
Corinthians, chapter 5, Paul says, I don't want you to
fellowship with anybody named a brother, calls
himself a Christian, but who is an adulterer or an
idolater or a list of things. Don't even go and eat with
them, because the idea is you're becoming one with them. One of the things I love
about Jesus in the gospels, he loved to eat. And I love to eat. And so that just makes me
love Jesus all the more. Like Zacchaeus, come
down from that tree. We're going to your
house to eat lunch. You didn't know that
till now, but you better get a good lunch
ready, because I'm coming to your house to eat. So the idea is Jesus is
saying, I don't want ritual. I want intimacy. I want to get close to you. And he is saying
that to his church. So write the things
which you have seen. Write the things which are. Now, beginning in
verse 1 of chapter 4, we get to the third division
of the book, the things which will be after these things. We're dealing now
with the future. Here's a hint-- up until
now, the word "church" has appeared several times
in the Book of Revelation, chapters 1, 2, and 3. It is now absent from the
book completely until the very last chapter of the book. Chapter 22, verse 16, is where
the word church appears again. That should be a hint to you. Because he's writing about the
things that will take place after these things, the things
of the church, or the things, you might say, of
the church age. So verse 1, chapter 4,
"after these things," meta tauta, "I
looked, and behold, a door standing open in Heaven. And the first
voice which I heard was like a trumpet, speaking
with me saying, come up here, and I will show you things which
must take place--" meta tauta-- "after this. Immediately, I
was in the spirit. And behold, the
throne set in Heaven, and one sat upon the throne." So in the next couple of
chapters, chapter 4 and 5, the scene takes place in Heaven. Chapter 4 and 5 is
adoration in Heaven. That's what takes place after
this, adoration in Heaven, followed by
tribulation on Earth. That's chapter 6
all the way to 18. Then chapter 19, Jesus Christ
comes from Heaven to Earth. Chapter 20 is the
millennial kingdom on Earth. Chapter 21 and 22 is the new
Heaven and the new Earth. That's what takes place
after these things. Did you notice, in verse
1, he hears a voice. And he said, "The first voice
I heard was like a trumpet." And the trumpet didn't just
blast, but said, come up here. Does that sound a little
bit familiar to you? Does that sort of sound
like I Thessalonians chapter 4, where Paul said, "The
Lord will descend from Heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the
dead in Christ will rise first. And we who are alive and remain
will be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air,
so shall we ever be with him." That's a classic
verse that describes the harpazo, the rapture, the
catching away of the church. So writing about the vision,
writing about the Church, now the rest of the book is
from a heavenly perspective after being caught up into
the throne room of Heaven. And he sees adoration in Heaven
and tribulation on Earth. It's all from a
heavenly perspective. He sees a throne. A throne is mentioned
13 times in chapter 4. Most of the time,
it's God's throne, though there are other thrones. I saw a throne set
in Heaven, and one sat on the throne, verse 2. And he who sat there
was like a jasper, sardius, stone in appearance. There was a rainbow
around the throne in appearance like an emerald. "Around the throne
were 24 thrones, and I saw 24 elders sitting
clothed in white robes. They had crowns of
gold on their heads. And from the throne
proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were
burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Before the throne, there was
a sea of glass like crystal. In the midst of the throne
and around the throne were four living creatures, full
of eyes in front and in back." It is a courtroom scene. There is a throne. There is an authoritative
figure, God the Father, sitting on the throne. But then in this heavenly
court, there are 24 elders-- 24 thrones, 24 elders. And the 24 elders are
representative figures. Let me explain. There's only one other
time in the Bible where we have 24 people in
a kind of a court setting, and that is back in
the Old Testament. David appointed 24 courses
of priests for the Levitical priesthood in Israel. And these 24 priests
represented the-- since a priest
represented the people, they were representative
of the whole nation. So 24 elders. An elder is a reference
to a church position, a position of authority. Some prefer to break
this up into 12 plus 12. That is, there's
12 representatives of the tribes of Israel,
Twelve Apostles, like mentioned in the latter portion of
the Book of Revelation in the new Jerusalem. And I go into depth in
the book that I wrote. But these are
representative, probably representing the
church in Heaven before the throne of God. Now, I'm going to
take you to chapter 5, because we have to get going. It said, "And I saw in
the right hand of him who sat on the throne a scroll,
written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is
worthy to open this scroll and to loose its seals? And no one in Heaven or on
the Earth or under the Earth was able to open the
scroll or to look at it. And so I wept much,
because no one was found worthy to open
and read this scroll or to look at it. But one of the elders
said to me, do not weep. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, has prevailed to
open this scroll and to loose its seven seals. And I looked, and behold,
in the midst of the throne and of the four
living creatures--" these are angelic beings-- "and in the midst
of the elders--" that's the 24 elders--
"stood a lamb as though it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent out into all the Earth. And he came and
took the scroll out of the right hand of him
who sits on the throne." This has been called,
by some scholars, the greatest real estate
escrow deal in history. The scroll is a title deed. Let me show you why. Again, I said you can understand
the Book of Revelation through the lens of
the Old Testament. In Jeremiah chapter 32,
while Jeremiah's in prison, the Lord speaks to
him in saying, listen, your cousin, Hanamel, is
going to come and visit you and offer you a deal. He's going to say that
the right of redemption, to purchase a plot of land of
his in the town of Anathoth, has come up, and he's going
to offer for you to buy it, because you are related to him. So he's sitting in prison,
and one day Hanamel comes in and goes, hey, listen. I've got a plot of
land in Anathoth, and the right of
redemption has come up. And Jeremiah, you're a relative. So I'd like you to buy it. And as soon as this
happened, Jeremiah said, I knew it was the Lord. Just like the Lord told
me he was coming, he came. So he bought the land
as an act of faith, because he had already predicted
the children of Israel-- we, us, in Jerusalem-- were
all going to be taken captive. We're going to be expelled
out of this country, taken into the foreign
land of Babylon, which makes our land worthless. But by faith, I'm
going to buy it, because I believe we're
going to return to this land, and it's going to be
worth something then. In 70 years, I'm going
to get my cash back. So he bought the
land, and it says he signed the deed,
the deed of purchase, which was a scroll
that was sealed. So when you lost land, a
kinsman could buy the property, somebody related to you. He had to be related to you. He had to be able to do so. He had to have cash in hand. He had to be willing to do so. That's the background
of the Book of Ruth. Boas becomes a kinsman redeemer,
buying land, marrying Ruth, taking the bride to himself. Beautiful picture of redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this scroll is a title deed. The terms of the deed were
written on the inside. Here, it's written on the
inside and on the outside, and it's not sealed by one or
two clay seals but seven seals. Now, each of those seals, when
broken, represents a judgment. It begins in chapter 6 of
the Book of Revelation. So throughout the
rest of the chapter, worship breaks out in Heaven
because Jesus is the kinsman. He's related-- that is,
he was a human being. He was able to do so. His precious blood was enough
to purchase men's souls back to God, and he was
certainly willing to do so. He said, "No one
takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself." So he fulfills the
qualifications. Now, all of Heaven
breaks out in worship. So in verse 8, down to verse
10, the four living creatures and the 24 elders worship. In verses 11 and 12, the
angelic host of Heaven worships. And then in verse 13 and
14, every creature in Heaven worships. Verse 13, "Every creature,
which is in Heaven and on Earth and under the Earth,
such as are in the sea and all that are
in them, I heard saying, blessing and
honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the
throne and to the lamb forever and ever." So 4 and 5, worship in
Heaven, adoration in Heaven. Beginning in chapter
6, there's a switch. We now move to the Earth,
and beginning in chapter 6 all the way through
the chapter 18 are a series of very graphic,
cataclysmic, disastrous judgments. And there are three
categories of those judgments. There are seals, as in the
seven-sealed document that is broken and read
and judgment ensues. And then there are
seven trumpet judgments, followed by seven bowl or vial
judgments poured out contents upon the Earth. There's a pattern
to these judgments. There is a six and one pattern. So this is how it goes
throughout the rest of the book, all the way
through to chapter 18. Chapter 6 gives you six
seals that are broken. All of them are judgments. After the sixth seal,
there's a parenthesis, sort of a catch-up. So chapter 7 is a
parenthetical statement, where more information
is given, followed by the seventh seal, which
ushers in the next seven judgments, which
are the trumpets. Same thing. You have chapter 8, the
six trumpet judgments, followed by chapter
9, chapter 10. You have more information given. Then you have that
final trumpet. Then you have the seven
bowls and a parenthesis in between those judgments. So it's just descriptive
of the last seven years of history on the
Earth before it's totally obliterated and destroyed
called the tribulation period. So let's get into it, and I'll
describe it a little bit more in detail. "Now I saw, when the
lamb--" verse 1, chapter 6-- "opened one of the seals, and
I heard one of the four living creatures saying, with a voice
like thunder, come and see. And I looked and behold a white
horse, and he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown
was given to him. And he went out
conquering and to conquer. When he opened
the second seal, I heard a second living
creature saying, come and see. Another horse,
fiery red, went out, and it was granted
to the one who sat on it to take
peace from the Earth that the people should
kill one another. And there was given
to him a great sword. When he opened the third seal, I
heard the third living creature say, come and see. And I looked and
behold a black horse, and you sat on it had a
pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst
of the four living creatures saying, a quart of wheat for
a denarius--" or a day's wage. In other words, it'll
take you a day's wage to get about a loaf of bread. "And three quarts of
barley for a denarius and do not harm the
oil and the wine. When he opened
the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth
living creature saying, come and see. Behold, a pale horse, and
the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades
followed with him. And power was given over
a fourth of the Earth to kill with sword, with hunger,
with death, and by the beasts of the Earth." Something you should know
about the tribulation period. It's not just a bad time. It's not just a really bad
day or a bad few years. There is no historical
parallel to what's coming-- not the Holocaust of World War
II, not the Great Depression, not the COVID pandemic. Nothing compares to it. Jeremiah chapter 30,
Daniel chapter 12, and the Lord Jesus
Christ in Matthew 24 said, "There's coming
a day upon the Earth. Nothing can compare to it." It would be the very worst
time in human history. Sorry to be the
bearer of bad news. But let just read to
you what Jesus said. "For then there will
be great tribulation such as has not been since
the beginning of the world until this time, no,
nor ever shall be. And unless those
days were shortened, no flesh would be saved,
but for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened." What you should know
is that more space is devoted in the Bible
to the tribulation period, the great
tribulation period, than just about
any other subject. Massive amounts of detail in
both Old and New Testament. What kind of things
are going to happen? Well, we read a sampling of it,
and it gets worse from here. From the seals to the trumpets
to the bowl judgments, there is a progression
and intensity of judgment. It just gets worse
and worse and worse. It's probably going to happen
in a very short period of time, in that last 3 and 1/2
years of tribulation. But a sampling of it, there is
smoke filling the Earth, fire from Heaven hitting
the Earth, falling stars that destroy
vegetation, demons coming up out of the bottomless
pit and tormenting people upon the Earth. We get to chapter
7, that's one of the parenthetical statements. Notice the question at
the end of chapter 6, because it is
answered in chapter 7. Last verse of
revelation 6, verse 17, "For the great day of
his wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" Now, that question gets
answered in chapter 7 by introducing to us two
groups that will stand, that will make it through
the tribulation period as saved people, believers. They will come to faith
during the tribulation. The rapture will have
already happened. God's wrath is being
poured out on the Earth, but the Holy Spirit will still
be active during that time. So there are two groups that
are introduced in chapter 7. 144,000 Jews--
they're called Jews from the children of Israel,
and the tribes are given. And then an innumerable
multitude of non-Jews, gentiles. So, in verse 4, "I
heard the number of those who were sealed." That's what the first few verses
are all about, sealing 144,000. "The number of those who
were sealed, 144,000--" notice this-- "of all the tribes of
the children of Israel were sealed." So the next time a Jehovah
Witness knocks on your door-- he's not doing it these
days because of COVID, but they'll come back. And when they do and
they announce to you, I'm a member of the 144,000, ask
them which tribe they're from. Oh, are you from the
tribe of Zebulun? And you can have a
little fun with it. Because it's not the
Jehovah's Witnesses that are described here or
the Seventh Day Adventists. They, too, believe
they're the 144,000. These are 144,000
Messianic Jews. They come to faith
in Jesus Christ during the tribulation period,
probably because of the witness of what you're going to
read about in chapter 11. Two witnesses that
come with miraculous signs to Jerusalem, to Israel. And probably as a result of
the two Jewish witnesses, 144,000 of them will be saved
out of all of these tribes. Now, they're introduced first,
because they help explain the appearance of another group
that is introduced in chapter 7, and that is verse 9. After these things,
I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one
could number, of all nations. So these are not Jewish
people, but gentile people. "All nations, tribes,
peoples, tongues standing before the throne
and before the lamb, clothed with white robes and palm
branches in their hands, crying with a loud
voice saying, salvation belongs to our God, who sits
on the throne and to the lamb." Go down to verse 13. "One of the elders
answered and said to me, who are these arrayed
in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him,
sir, you know. So he said to me,
these are the ones who come out of the
great tribulation and wash their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Therefore, they are
before the throne of God and serve Him day and
night in His temple. And he who sits on the throne
will dwell among them." So we have people being saved
in the tribulation period. I've always contended
that the greatest revival ever in history is coming
in the tribulation period. And I don't plan to be
there during that time. I believe the rapture
of the church happens. And then after these things
comes the tribulation period. During the tribulation period,
however, the spirit of God will send two witnesses-- Revelation, chapter 11-- whom
I believe are Moses and Elijah. I'll just spill that
before we get to it. And through these
two people's witness, 144,000 will come
to faith in Christ. They're sealed during that time. They become incredible
evangelists. And the result is
an innumerable group of people from all these
tribes and nations who are living through the
great tribulation period. Most of them will be martyred
because of their faith. But they are saved
during that time. So that's why I say the
greatest revival is coming. Chapter 8 of Revelation
is phase two. This is where the
trumpet judgments come. And the first four trumpets
are natural judgments. The last three are supernatural. They involve demon activity. So the first trumpet, verse
7, hail and fire followed, mingled with blood, and they
were thrown into the Earth. A third of the trees
were burned up, and all the grass was burned up. And so the trumpets continue,
these judgments, cataclysms, through chapter 8 and chapter 9. Chapter 10 is another
parenthetical statement, where more information is given. "I saw still another
mighty angel coming down from Heaven clothed
with a cloud, and a rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, his
feet like pillars of fire." So this is like an interlude
between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments. Now chapter 11. I'm going to take
you to verse 3. "I will give power
to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy 1,260
days clothed in sackcloth." 1,260 days is 3 and 1/2
years, or 42 months. "These are the two olive
trees and the two lamp stands standing before
the God of the Earth." So get this. You're reading
chapter 3, and you're going, OK, God's introducing
two witnesses to us. They're going to do something. They're going to prophesy. And you go, gosh, I
wonder who they would be. So he gives us now
an explanation. "These are the two olive
trees and the two lamp stands standing before
the God of the Earth." And you're thinking,
that doesn't help me. "And if anyone
wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth
and devours their enemies. And if anyone
wants to harm them, he must be killed
in this manner. These have the
power to shut Heaven so that no rain falls in
the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the
waters to turn them to blood and to strike the
Earth with all plagues as often as they desire. And when they finish
their testimony, the beast that ascends
out of the bottomless pit will make war on them and
overcome them and kill them." Oh, I wish I had time to tell
you about Zechariah chapter 4. That unlocks the olive trees. Let me do it really briefly. Remember, Zechariah has
a vision in chapter 4 of the Book of Zechariah,
and he sees a golden bowl. He sees the lamp stand,
a golden lamp stand, and above the lamp
stand was a golden bowl. And there were
seven golden pipes that went right
into the seven lamps on the menorah, the lamp stand. And on either side of the lamp
stand were two olive trees. So it was like an
automated menorah, where oil went directly from the
olive tree into the bowl, and that receptacle
then fed the menorah, the seven-branched
lamp stand that he saw in the vision,
which was a symbol that was used in the tabernacle. And so it was just
automatically filling it. And so the angel that
is with him says, you know, what does this mean? And sort of like John, he
goes, well, I don't know. You know. You tell me. So the angel says, I'll
tell you what this is. This is the word of
the Lord to Zerubbabel. It's not by might. It's not by power. It is by my spirit
says the Lord. You go tell Zerubbabel
that he laid the foundations of
the temple, and he is going to finish the temple. You encourage Joshua
the high priest and Zerubbabel the civic
leader that what they started, they're going to finish,
like those two olive trees. That's who they are. I am with my people. I am going to give all
that my people need to finish the project. So we have two witnesses who
are like Zerubbabel and Joshua, the high priest, coming
in the tribulation period. You follow me so far? But though they are
Jewish in background, they have certain signs that
they can perform, right? They can make the
water turn into blood, and they can bring
plagues upon the people. That's what it says
in Revelation 11. The only one I know who did
that in the Old Testament, that guy's named Moses. And then he can stop
rain from happening. He can call fire
down from Heaven. Elijah did that. I believe that the two witnesses
coming in the tribulation period are Moses and Elijah. You're going, oh, come on. Well, yes, it actually
happened before. On a certain mountain, in
the northern part of Israel, Jesus was transfigured before
Peter, James, and John, and who appeared with him? Moses and Elijah. I believe that was
kind of a staff meeting before the final event,
kind of running down notes of what's going to happen
during that kingdom excursion here. So given what they
do, given the fact that they already
appeared with Jesus speaking about the
kingdom that was coming, and given the fact that
Elijah never died-- he was taken up into
Heaven, the Bible says. And Moses died, but nobody
knows what happened to his body. And the Bible says,
in the Book of Jude, Satan was disputing with the
Lord over the body of Moses. Why? Who cares about a body? Unless God had a future
use for that body. So if I put all of
those texts together, without any commentaries,
just the texts of scripture, it leads me to believe
that Moses and Elijah have a future testimony to
the nation of Israel. And I got to tell you, if you
were a Jew living in Israel and Moses or Elijah
showed up, you'd listen. Because every Passover, they're
waiting for Elijah to come. And Moses is the great lawgiver. So I believe it's Moses and
Elijah being the witnesses. The witness leads 144,000,
chapter 7, to be saved. 144,000 leads that great revival
in the tribulation period, the end of chapter 7. Let's close out chapter 11 verse
14, "The second woe is past, and behold, the third
woe is coming quickly. The seventh angel
sounded, and there was a loud voice
in Heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world have
become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and they
shall reign forever and ever." We'll close there. We'll pick it up next week
with the end of chapter 11, all the way to chapter 22, where
will finish out the tribulation period, see the second coming
of Jesus Christ, chapter 19. The millennial reign
of Christ, chapter 20. The new Heaven and the new
Earth and the eternal state, chapter 21 and 22. But that is just barely
touching the surface. Because after all, if 404 verses
in Revelation, 360 of them have pieces of Old Testament
analogy in scripture, it takes a while to kind
of manage through that. So one of the most stimulating,
satisfying studies you can take is going through the
Book of Revelation, finding out those Old Testament
passages to unlock the meaning, and write down
what you discover. And you'll come out the
other end knowing this book. So, Father, thank you for the
book that tells the future. It shows us Jesus in His
glorified state in chapter 1. It gives us church conditions
in chapters 2 and 3. But then it tells
us what is going to take place after this at
some future, undisclosed moment in history, in our
future, upon planet Earth. Lord, I pray that
we will be ready. In Jesus' name, amen. Can I have you
stand to your feet? There's something that I
neglected to share with you. And I just want to drop this off
in your head before next week. In chapter 6 of Revelation,
in the fourth seal, it says that he
saw a pale horse. Power was given over
a fourth of the Earth to kill with the sword,
with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the Earth. Now, we read that word,
beasts of the Earth, and we think about
four-footed beasts. Don't narrow the
meaning of that. It could be like four-footed
beasts, or it could be-- now think of this
interpretation, in light of what
we're going through. It could be microscopic beasts. It could be not
four-footed beasts like what you
think about running around the street
tearing at something, but it could be some
kind of biological germ warfare unleashed in the world. And you can look around and see
the kind of fear and compliance that a society is willing to go
through to eradicate something they really don't even
know where it came from or what it's going to do. I wrote an article about this
in Decision Magazine recently. And I believe what
we're seeing now today is just a dress rehearsal for
the future, when things will be unleashed in the world
and the kind of fear Jesus spoke about. Men's hearts will
be failing them for fear over what's
coming on the Earth. I encourage you, if you don't
know the Lord Jesus Christ, invite Him into your heart,
because these days are coming. They're coming. Nobody saw this coming. The days written about in
Revelation, they are coming. And maybe Jesus
has been knocking on the door of your heart. He wants you to open that door. Father, I pray for anyone
here who doesn't know You that they would say
yes to Jesus Christ and invite him into their
lives, into their hearts. If that happens to be
you, right where you are, if you've come tonight or
you're listening by radio or watching this online, invite
Christ to be Lord and Savior. Say, Lord, I know I'm a sinner. Please forgive me. I turn from my sin. I turn to Jesus as Savior. I want to follow Him as Lord. I believe He died on a cross. I believe He rose from the dead. I believe He's coming again. I want to be ready. So I give You my life. I make Jesus Lord. Teach me what it means
to follow Him every day. In Jesus' name, amen. Now, if you prayed that, I
want you to identify yourself, mask or not, after the
service to one of our leaders who will be upfront. You can get six feet away
from them, but just say, I prayed that prayer. We want to give you
something sanitized and place it in your hands. It gives you directions
on what to do next. If you happen to be
watching this on your phone, you can text the word
"SAVED" to 505-509-5433. If you're on the
website, click Know God right in the right-hand
corner of the calvarynm.church website, and we'll give
you further information. Thank you for indulging me. I went over time. I'm so sorry. I'll really try to cut
it off closer next time, but we finish 30K next time. Let's close with a song. [APPLAUSE] For more resources,
visit calvarynm.church. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from The Bible From 30,000 Feet.
