Revelation For Dummies | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

[Music] revelation chapter one my title is revelation for dummies and i say that because i'm the one talking about it i'm not insulting you giving you a view into my knowledge of this subject i'm far from an expert i'm going to take a stab at some things that i barely understand myself and i'm trying to understand them more i think i got a d-minus in eschatology and that's because i think they just wanted to get rid of me and um so so i'm not great at this subject but i want to give you just a quick easy simple overview of of the book of revelation and one verse the bible gives us one verse that lays out the thesis or a simple outline of the whole book and that's verse 19 it says write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which shall take place after that after this that's our three points number one write the things which you have seen number two the things which are and number three the things which will take place after this let's pray father we thank you for the encouragement that today is going to bring to somebody's life i pray that you help us to grasp in a greater way what it is that you are trying to show us through this special and unique book of all the books in scripture this one is such a unique book and we ask that you begin to help us understand it so of course we can fall more in love with you and we all said amen the book of revelation is a book of prophecy prophecy is pre-written history i like that idea history pre-written so it's a book of prophecy the word revelation notice it's not revelations if you look at the very top corner of your bible if you're in the book of revelation it just says revelation so this is one revelation one revelation there's one thing one primary goal that the apostle john is trying to teach us here one thing he's trying to unveil that's what revelation means to unveil there's one thing he's trying to say has been hidden that's it's been veiled but if you'll read this book the veil will lift that which has been hidden will be discovered if you read this book also in verse 3 we find that this is the only book in your bible that has a promise attached to it if you read it the bible here in verse 3 of revelation chapter 1 it says that blessed are those who read these words and hear these words so god promises that there is a special blessing attached to those who read and hear the words from this book so this lets us know that in this service there's a special blessing for every single one of you that are here that are hearing the words of this book so even if i preach terrible even if i drop the ball and i just i can't get out what i'm supposed to say in a way that i'm supposed to say it which is kind of normal if that happens here today there's still a special blessing attached to this message because we're reading and hearing the words that the apostle john wrote to us john the beloved is the author he is the best friend of jesus he is the one that is standing at the cross of all the apostles he's the only one that makes it to the crucifixion he's standing there with the mother of jesus mary and he hears one of the last sentences jesus will ever say hanging from the cross he says would you take care of my mother and john takes up that mantle and oversees and takes care of and cares for john's mom for the rest of her life we would know that this is a book that's special to our theology whereas genesis is the seed seedbed of all theology this is our understanding of god how we see god how we think about god which is really the most important thing about you how you think about god if you think about god wrong you think about yourself wrong you think about the world wrong you think about people wrong you think about situations wrong but if you see god right you see yourself right you see people right you see your relationships right you see the world so genesis is the seedbed of theology revelation is the harvest of all theology where genesis describes our beginning revelation explains our end genesis teaches us about the very first bride who was eve revelation teaches us about the church who is the bride of christ in genesis satan appears for the first time in revelation he appears his last time in genesis man is removed from the garden from eden from god's presence in revelation man is ushered back in to the full presence of god having full access to all his glory what but what god begins in genesis he finishes in the book of revelation and jesus tells john i want you to write about the things which are seen and john begins to write in verse 12 he says he turns and sees the voice that spoke with me i turned and saw seven golden lamp stands in the midst of the lamp stands one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band his head and hair were white like wool as white as snow in his eyes like a flame of fire his feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace his voice is the sound of many waters he had in his right hand seven stars out of his mouth when a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in its strength and when i saw him i fell at his feet as dead but he laid his right hand on me saying do not be afraid i am the first and the last i am he who lives and was dead and behold i am alive forevermore amen and in case you forgot i have the keys of hell and death so he tells john write about the things which you have seen and john begins to write notice he does not write about an event he does not write in this moment about the tribulation he does not write about the antichrist he does not write about the mark of the beast the very first thing he writes about this unveiling this revelation that's about to take place surrounds the person specifically the person of jesus christ the central focus of the book of revelation is jesus it's not an event it's not the tribulation it is the person of jesus christ he is the focus of the book he is the main point if you read the book of revelation or you hear the book of revelation in any way shape or form and in some way shape or form you walk away and you don't see jesus in a greater way you do not know him in a fuller way you've missed the point of the book jesus tells john i want you to write to them concerning the things which you have seen because the first time jesus came he was veiled he was born of a virgin he came and he put on flesh and he dwelt among us he was placed in a feeding trough as a child he was raised in the obscurity of nazareth raised by a simple carpenter he was raised in this simple way with this simple life we would know that most of his life is veiled we don't see much about his childhood we catch a glimpse of him at age 12 but most of his life again is veiled we don't see most of it at age 30 he shows up and after three years of his ministry we find him being bound being arrested being ex sentenced to execution they put a cross on his back he carries that cross he's crucified as he hangs there bleeding embarrassed and humiliated they mock him saying if you're really this king of the jews then why don't you get yourself off this cross why don't you call down angels to get and the mockery was there why because who he was his divinity was veiled behind his humanity and a lot of times people get stuck on their vision of who jesus was they see jesus as that carpenter's son or they see jesus even hanging and bleeding on a cross or maybe they even see the borrowed tomb of joseph of arimathea with the stone rolled away and empty and they think to themselves that's how we're supposed to see jesus but jesus tells john i don't want you to write about the cross i don't want you to write about the empty tomb i want you to write about how you see me now people need to see me as i am now not as i was but as i am today so the first thing john does is he begins to unveil who christ is today who he is now seated at the right hand of the father crowned with glory crowned with majesty he is reigning king of kings and lord of lords and it's important that we get a vision according to this book that we the veil be lifted concerning who jesus is today i'm drawn to jesus because of who he was i'm drawn to his beauty his nature of grace the the love that he carried himself with i'm drawn to his humanity i'm drawn to his willingness to suffer for my sin and for yours i'm i'm drawn to his humility i'm drawn to to his willingness to take on the curse of our sin i'm drawn to the way that he would lay down his life because no greater love hath any man than this than they lay down their life and i'm drawn to all of that because it's through that the bible says that he's a god that's touched with our infirmity i can relate to him when i see him in his human humanity but it's really clear that jesus tells john i'm not going to return like that i came like that for the first time but i'm not going to return in like manner and what i need people to know is i'm not like i was then i'm not hanging and bleeding on a cross i'm not i'm not in that place anymore i am now this god that that is is has this garment that's hanging down i've got the my eyes are a flame of fire we read it i don't have to go back through it because i'm confused myself but you know what i'm talking about this is revelation for dummies find somebody else if you want them to explain the whole thing i'm trying to unveil it it's hard number two the things which are write about the things which you've seen and write about the things which are chapter 2 and 3 of this book begins to walk us through the things that are we are living in the church age and so john writes to the churches jesus talks to the churches of asia minor lists seven different churches that were physical churches that existed but they were also symbolic of the thing that the church has to work on things temptations weaknesses tendencies behaviors that will get a hold of the church age during the church age these are things that we will have to work through now don't just take this and put it on a church building i love the people that love to go take this these two chapters and love to say oh that church is like that that's that church that's not who he's writing to he's not writing to a building or a structure he's writing to you okay this is his message to you you're the church i'm the church he's writing to us and so his message first of all is to the church of ephesus and he says their issue of the is they've left their first love how many all know of building cannot leave their first love he's talking about those who do not love him like they used to he doesn't say they don't love him he's saying they just don't place him first anymore they don't love him like they once did if there's ever been a time in your life where you love jesus more than you do right now can i help you this is a warning to you that there is going to be the temptation to lose jesus as our prominent number one first love then he writes to the church of sperna smyrna is a fearful church a worried church primarily concerned about the future when we hear about the things that happen in the world when we hear about even the events of end times or the social unrest in our world specifically here in america a divided nation we get worried about our future what if so and so is elected what if such and such is elected who have so and so is reelected and no matter which place you stand people get worried but as a believer can i help you out the way it all winds up is the world gets messier and messier and messier it doesn't get better and better so at the end of the day there is nothing to fear none of this is a surprise to god none of this is scary to god the church will be its brightest when the world is its darkest as sin increases grace much more increases you have nothing to fear but there will be a fearful church a worried church just buckle down oh my god we're so worried about the future number three the church of pergamos is a compromising church they love god he clears it up they love him but they lack integrity and he talks to them about how critical it is that they overcome the temptation to become like the world he talks to them about listen you can love me but you also have to live for me it's not good enough to know me in a church service i need you to bring me into your monday your tuesday your wednesday your thursday your friday i need you to bring me into your everyday life i i appreciate that you love me but i want to know will you live for me and he says if you'll do this i'll give you a new name i love this idea because it shows us the major difference between god and the devil in the last days the devil gives every person that leans towards him a number where in the last days any person that leans towards god he gives them a new name because if you lean towards the enemy to the world can i just help you out real quick all you are is a notch on the belt of hell that's all you are but if you'll lean into god in the last days can i tell you what he says if you'll overcome the temptation to become like the world love me and live for me and my promise to you is i will give you a new name you're my sons you're my daughters you're more than a number i will call you by name personally individually i know who you are and i will call you by name the church of thyatira is an unrepentant church he shows that they will justify sin through good works this is a scary one because it introduces us to the idea that i can just be a good person and that will get me to heaven if i'm good enough then the the scale will balance out yeah i've got some mistakes i've got some sin but what i'm going to do is i'm going to do a bunch of good things and that's going to balance out the scale and then when i come before god he's going to look at the good i've done and the good i've done is going to outweigh the bad i've done and so he says listen this is not the way that you come before a pure and holy god you don't come before a pure and holy god trying to show me your good works you come before a pure and holy god only one way where you recognize this is the gospel that there is no way you could ever do enough good works to get right before god that's why jesus came he came and he died on a cross did the ultimate good work so you and i could bring our sin to him and as we give him our sin we pick up his grace and that is how you get right with god not through your works but through his work on the cross but he says in the last days there will be this mindset that people will think i'll just try to be good enough and they'll not see their great need to surrender to jesus christ fully and receive his forgiveness for their life and he says in the last days that will be a temptation people will have to overcome they will trust their good works instead of trusting jesus's work on the cross the church of sardis is the dead church interesting that there are churches he says that they will have a name that they're alive but they're dead and again if this is a message to us in this room today it means you can have the name you're a christian the name you're a follower of jesus but you're actually dead you can have doctrine you can have theology you can have a cross on your building you can have a cross around your neck you can have your statement of faith clear and pristine your doctrine can be above reproach but that's not the main point nothing wrong with those things but the bible says that the letter alone kills the spirit gives life so you have to have the spirit behind the letter that's god's breath that's god's life and it's not good enough for you and i to know about god we have to know him and the power that's the life of his resurrection do not be deceived brethren is what the bible says that you can expect to finish in the flesh what he has begun in the spirit you and i can i help you know what makes us a people not a building not a sign not that the name church is in our name not our statement of faith all that stuff is fine what makes us a people is the presence of god we need the breath and the presence of god on everything we do we need it on our singing we need it on our preaching we need it on our shaking hands we need it on every gift that we offer him we need it in our children's programs we need more than dead lifeless activity we need the life and the spirit of god on all that we do it is his presence that makes us a people number six the church of philadelphia is a weak church he says they have little strength so there will be a temptation in the last day that the church will buy the lie that they should just be a weak church you little weak church christian people we don't want to hear from you we don't want to hear what your thoughts are about the issues in the world you just go to your little cute churches and you don't cause no problems and you just be quiet in there and if you do don't do what we want you to do we're going to threaten you we're going to push your back up against the wall we're going to take this we're going to do this we're going to and and there will be a temptation for the church to believe that that's who we're supposed to be we're not supposed to ever have a thought we're not supposed to ever have a standard we're not supposed to ever have a voice but god doesn't call the church in the last days to be a weak church he says to the weak say that you are strong you got to be bold you got to be courageous you got to be willing to say it is not a day for the church to be quiet it's a day for the church to stand up and be heard and be courageous and bold for the god that gave his life for us i just think about that attitude of david's brothers remember david they come out on the field and goliath's there threatening the people of god just stay in your little trench david comes out and he says no we're not supposed to be sitting in here shrinking back in fear we're supposed to be out there battling the goliath and all the brothers say no no no no we shouldn't do that you're proud you have the wrong motive you have the wrong this and david's like we're not called to be weak and quiet we're called to stand up and say who is this uncircumcised philistine that resists and tries to come against the the god of israel remember when paul was arrested and beaten and unjustly imprisoned and then god sends the earthquake they come out of prison he rescues the jailer and then what happens the authorities that had just beat him and imprisoned him they send word and say hey tell paul he can leave but to leave quietly and what does paul say send word back to them that they beat me publicly they imprison me publicly and i will not leave quietly if they want me to leave they're going to hear what i have to say and the church is not called to be a weak church we're called to be a strong church we're called to be a bold church we're called to be a church that stands up for righteousness and justice not for one group of people for all groups of people by the way then finally i didn't mean to get into all that [Applause] you don't want to miss next week next week i'm going to be talking about the nation of israel and i know that doesn't sound relevant to your everyday life but i'll show you how to receive a very very unique blessing and favor the favor of god comes on people's lives that will understand what i'm going to talk about next week and it's something i've never seen and i'm going to walk you through the scripture theologically you will see how important it is that we understand the position of the nation of israel in the last days and even if you don't like that can i tell you you want to be here because you'll struggle to get away from what i'm going to say next week god's hand will be on the people that get what i'm going to talk about next week so be here next week for that i got to finish up i've been going too long the church of laodicea the lukewarm church i think it's the greatest danger many people can face is lukewarmness indifference it's not that we don't go through ups and downs of life but an indifference to spiritual things has to be guarded that we have to stay hot for god jesus the bible says was eaten up with zeal for god's house so the message here write about the things that are the message here is to the church to god's people their attitude towards god their attitude towards the church he's saying in the last days there will be a temptation to not understand how important it is to be the kind of church i've called you to be and he lists this condition in that condition in another condition and he he just he's just walking through the things we have to guard our hearts from because he knows ephesians chapter one says christ is the head but we are his body the bible goes on the message bible says it like this that we are christ's body in which he speaks acts and fills all things with his presence we're his hands we're his feet anything that jesus is going to do on the earth can i help you out how he's going to do it he's the head he's seated at the right hand of the father in heaven it is the age of the church if he's going to do something he's going to do it through you nothing happens in this world without god partnering with us his body to perform and do and accomplish what he wants to accomplish in the earth it is our unique privilege to be his body and so when people say things like i love god but i hate the church they're missing something somehow the last day in the last days there will be an attitude that gets a hold of people's hearts they have to be care and i get it because the church is flawed its body is flawed there's still wounds in the body of jesus come on you got the wounds in his hands and the wounds in his feet and the wounds in his side that's his humanity and a lot of people don't like the humanity of church they just like the divinity of it all they think it's supposed to be all supernatural the angels show up and do everything but people show up and do things and so like doubting thomas sometimes you have to get faith from other people's scars come on sometimes you have to touch the wounded areas of people's life and draw strength from it not allow it to push you away from the church but to draw you in that if god's going to raise them up god can raise you up god can use wounds but we've got to be willing to get over the humanity of one another in the last day church we can't say i love god but i hate church can't say that you can't say that i love god but i don't love his body i love the head but i don't love the body let me teach you how well this works every husband in here when you leave today and you get into the car i want you to lean over look your wife in the eyes and say i love you baby i love you so much i especially love your face but i don't like your body and that sting that you feel across your face [Music] that should give you a glimpse into the attitude [Music] the sh that's how harshly that attitude should be dealt with you should feel the slap of the holy spirit if he slaps i don't know i i know i know jesus sure slapped paul the apostle off that horse so hard he was blind when he hit the ground i don't know i don't know if he does that anymore but every now and then we just need that gentle firm come on convicting slap where god says come on man don't don't love me and miss out on being a part of the body [Music] and then he says write about the things which shall be this would be chapter 4 through chapter 22. this is where we learn that we're on the edge of eternity the scripture here says that the time is near the time is near you see we have the mindset about eternity like it's it's something we're close to it's something that that at some point will see but that we're not let me say it like this i grew up in kansas and the biggest body of water that was around where i lived was called mead lake well mead lake i'm sure you've never heard of it and the reason is you can walk around mead lake in about five minutes i'd never been on an airplane in my freshman year in college i went to michigan with sarah and she grew up right on lake michigan and so they were going to take me to go see lake michigan which to me isn't a lake i mean that's to me i mean i know it is a lake call the lake but it's like an ocean waves and people surf on it it's crazy no sharks but it's it's still it's still close it's as close as you can get and there's this road in grand haven that you go down and you kind of come around this cut and hill like kind of here before you see the downtown cincinnati cityscape it's similar to that and you come around this corner and then boom right there it is you can see lake michigan as far as the eye can see you see this big beautiful body of water and a lot of people think of eternity like that like we're kind of on our way and some point we'll turn the corner and then we'll see it but that's not how eternity is explained by jesus to john he says tell them it's near tell them they're not waiting for it to get near they're not waiting for it to get close they're standing on the seashore their feet are standing in the sea soaked sand their ankle deep at any point the last wave is going to come tell them they're that close and as he writes the very first thing he says is after these things which in chapter 4 verse 1 speaks of after the church age and verse 1 it explains the rapture of the church i know a lot of people don't think that the church is going to be raptured i personally stand in the camp that i do believe the church will be taken out first chapter 4 verse 1 indicates that we have first corinthians 15 we have first thessalonians chapter 4 we have other places but the idea is that god is not going to pour his wrath out on his children that there's always been divine escape before there was divine judgment right in as it was in the day of noah is what the bible says so shall it be when the son of man returns what's he saying he's saying noah god gave him divine escape before the waters of judgment were poured out and so the church is raptured is the very first event that we see take place in revelation 4 in verse 1. that's the very first thing that happens on god's prophetic calendar god comes and gets his kids i think this is what causes us to live with such expectancy such excitement because we don't want to miss out on it why because the next thing that happens is the tribulation this is seven years where satan runs things on this earth they say in chapter 9 that things will reach such extremes that the torment and torture will be so great that men will prefer death over life that tribulation those seven years ends with the battle at armageddon where all the nations of the earth will gang up against israel and as all the nations surround israel at the valley of megiddo as that's happening right before the battle ensues and israel is destroyed the finals the second coming of jesus this is not the rapture the raptures happen the second coming of jesus happens and he comes and he takes care of all the armies of the earth he defends and protects israel and then he binds satan and the antichrist and they're thrown in the lake of fire for one thousand years jesus reigns bodily his throne is set up in the city of jerusalem for 1 000 years after that there's the final white throne judgment that's not for the believer this is for those who are not saved and then finally a new heaven and a new earth and this is written to us not to scare us but it's written to bless us it's written so we could have a special blessing as a result of hearing the words of this book and so we're supposed to be looking for his coming we're supposed to be longing for him to come we're supposed to be learning about his return but most importantly we're supposed to be living as though he would come today the very last chapter could you stand up but please don't leave i want to just kind of finish up but i just feel like i want you to hear this [Music] standing up the worship team's going to come because i feel like we probably need to go into just a couple minutes of worship as we finish our time together remember how i opened up talking about the closeness of john's relationship with jesus and when you read the book if you understand that relationship you can kind of see their closeness at times you can see the back and forth conversation you can see the affection that john had for jesus and that jesus had for john this has not seen any to me the best place you can see it is in this very last moment where they're parting ways i don't know how it ends up obviously john is on the island of patmos which was the alcatraz of those days he's banished he's exiled he's living with criminals he was taken up on the lord's day however long this encounter happens where he sees what he saw the moment is almost over and as john is being pulled away you see jesus saying hey tell them this tell them i'm coming quickly tell him to not be fearful tell him to not worry tell him to get right tell him to put off all those worldly things tell them to get away from the compromi tell them i'm coming quickly john would you tell him would you tell him that that that these last days that the spirit and the bride are going to call out to the world to come would you tell the bride i need her to be the bride and i need her to lean into the spirit i need the spirit and the bride to come together and call out to a hurting world would you would you tell him that john john would you tell him that would you tell and then he says again would you tell him i'm coming back quickly i can imagine john yeah you just told me that you're coming back quickly and then you told me again and then you told me again and then you told me again i know but would you tell him i'm coming back quickly and then john kind of as his last goodbye says even so come back quickly john was like man i can't wait for you to come back i can't wait for you to settle things because what was jesus trying to help us understand this is not a day to fear this is a day to be excited about because god makes things right there's no more pain no more tears no more sorrow no more sin no more devil no more death all that stuff is defeated and god raises up his people and he establishes kingdom in the earth and he says tell them tell them tell them to get ready for it it's close it's near and i want them to be ready can we throw up our hands all across this room and just say jesus make me ready i don't want to be a lukewarm church i don't want to be a compromising church come on lift up your hands and say i don't want to be a dead church come on speak to your own spirit i don't want to be lifeless i don't want to be unrepentant i don't want to trust my good works i need your grace god come on all across this room as the bride of christ can we ask the holy spirit to fill this place to fill our families to fill our marriages to fill our lives come on let the spirit and the bride call out come come quickly lord jesus is father thank you for the great unveiling you gave us the great revelation that you've given us of your greatness father let us see you seated in glory crowned with authority let us see you god as you are now in total control [Music] all of this you have wrapped up and you're going to use us in these last days [Music] you're going to use us in our families you're going to use us in this community you're going to use us to not be a weak church you're going to use us to be a strong church god you need some strong churches and we hear you we hear you loud and clear in the last days we don't want to be of little strength got everything we do let us see the body of christ is a place that is to be strong it demands our full involvement it demands our full investment it demands our hearts this last week i was reading a scripture and i'm done with this statement i'm going to leave you with this [Music] i'm in second chronicles just reading my bible right now and i read this and i wrote it down as one of the things i never want to hear god say to me it says and i don't remember which king it was because there's so many of them you know there's like a million kings in that book i mean it's like i don't even i don't want to go into on their names are all crazy but this the accusation from god to this king was he did what was right in the eyes of god but he was not wholeheartedly living for me he did what was right did the right things but his heart was not whole towards me and i think that that's what the message is to this church listen we do right things we do good things but god's not after us doing right things doing good things he's after us living for him with our whole heart amen saying come lord jesus we're ready we're excited and we're going to do your work until that day comes amen thank you for watching seven hills church's youtube channel i think there's a couple next steps for you as you're watching first of all i want to let you know you can join us live for our online experiences totally interactive live chat we'd love to have you join us there also don't forget if you don't want to miss out on all the new content that gets posted on our youtube channel to subscribe thank you again for watching and we'll see you guys this weekend

Channel: 7 Hills Church with Marcus Mecum

Views: 19,277

Keywords: Church, Religion, love, jesus, God, bible

Id: bZSCiya-UJ0

Length: 41min 40sec (2500 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 18 2019