The Book of Revelation - Lesson 2: Structure and Content

[Music] [Applause] [Music] you a friend of mine once told me about his visit to a tapestry shop outside of Cairo Egypt they had rooms full of people weaving carpets together my friend was captivated by the way these thin strands of fabric could be woven with thousands of similar strands to make the complex patterns of the tapestries the beauty of the strands came to life when they were incorporated into the tapestry and the book of Revelation is a little like a tapestry full of tiny prophecies that draw much of their meaning from the other prophecies around them and its message is most clear when we read the book as a whole and see the big picture it's drawing for us this is the second lesson in our series on the book of Revelation and we've entitled it structure and content in this lesson we'll explore John's book by considering its literary composition and how its various parts fit together we'll begin our exploration of the structure and content of Revelation by looking briefly at John's purpose for writing next we'll explore the details of the book of Revelation itself and finally we'll survey some common strategies for its modern application let's begin by looking at John's purpose [Music] John's purpose for writing revelation was almost as complex as the book itself so we can't explore all its details in this lesson but we can still summarize his central purposes in this way John wrote the book of Revelation to encourage suffering Christians to remain faithful until Jesus returns as we indicated in our first lesson in this series John's persecuted readers were experiencing numerous temptations to compromise their faith so John wrote to assure the churches in Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea and the rest of the world that Christ knew their suffering and would see them through it revelation guaranteed that Jesus was already in control of their glorious future and that he would reward all his faithful followers in line with his role as God's prophet John's purpose was expressed in two complementary messages from Jesus to the churches of Asia Minor first John delivered offers a blessing for everyone that was loyal to Jesus and second he conveyed threats of curses against all who were disloyal we'll explore both these types of messages beginning with offers of blessing listen to the encouragement John relayed to the church in Smyrna in Revelation chapter 2 verses 9 and 10 I know your afflictions and your poverty it you're rich do not be afraid of what you're about to suffer I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will separate persecution for 10 days be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life far from promising protection from all suffering John said the church in Smyrna was about to suffer but at the same time he assured them that if they remained faithful to Christ Jesus would give them the crown of life their suffering and possible death would only be temporary but their blessings would last forever this encouragement was important because it oriented John's original audience to the visions that followed it taught them to read the visions with an eye toward the blessings Jesus will give his faithful followers when he returns for instance Revelation chapter 20 verse 4 speaks of the blessing of reigning with Christ and listened to how revelation chapter 21 verses 3 and 4 describes the final blessings believers will receive and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them they will be his people and God Himself will be with them and be their God he will wipe every tear from their eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away this vision of the future should have motivated John's readers to be faithful to God so that they'd obtain these wonderful blessings you have some very key moments when blessing is promised to God's people a book of Revelation you can think for instance of of Revelation 2 through 3 and the promises to those who overcome that are then also iterated at the very end of the book to those who overcome and and that reminds us that what the promises of blessing are intending to do in part for us as God's people is to encourage us to persevere during times of trial and persecution persevere in terms of cleaning to Jesus and and always aligning ourselves with his purposes but also being very careful to live out the lifestyle of those who are known as by the name of the Lord so that we are holy people unto the Lord the purpose of the office of blessing that we repeatedly encounter in Revelation it's almost as though they're part of the apocalyptic nature of the book because there shirring these people that though their reality though they're that what they actually see with their eyes indicates that they're cursed they're suffering they're insignificant they're at odds with Rome they're ostracized by the culture everything seems to be going against them but the true story if we could pull the veil back so to speak the true story is that if they will hold fast to the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus they will experience God's blessing besides offering blessings to Jesus faithful followers John also expressed his purpose and threats of curses against those who were disloyal to Christ as just one example listen to Jesus threat against the Church in Laodicea in Revelation chapter 3 verse 16 because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth these words strongly exhorted John's readers to repent of their sins and to live in eager submission to Jesus the threat of being spit out of Christ's mouth vividly warned that flagrant rebellion against Jesus would lead to divine curses these kinds of threats were included so that John's original audience would read the visions that followed with an awareness of God's curses as an author John highlighted these curses many times in order to exhort both false and true believers to repent of their sins for example in a number of places John's visions describes the punishments that fall on those who worship the Beast these idolaters are crushed in God's winepress in Revelation chapter 14 they're tormented with disease in chapter 16 and they're burned in the lake of fire in chapters 19 through 21 these verses were genuine threats against the false believers in the churches of Asia Minor but they also would have encouraged true believers to avoid the kinds of behaviors and attitudes that led to God's judgment the warnings of judgment in the book of Revelation really have two purposes on the one hand for believers who are standing fast who are enduring suffering they are a reminder and a promise that justice delay is not really justice denied that the day is coming when those who have made Christians lives miserable or take and Christians lives will be brought to justice on the other hand there are churches in the first century as there are today that are very tempted by the appeal of the surrounding culture the harlot Babylon in the vision that is given to John in in revelation 17 is beautifully dressed she looks attractive in one sense now she has in the Goblet in her hand the blood of the Saints so even there we know how ruthless she is as a representative of the appeal of luxury founded on brutality but we might be tempted and we see in chapters 2 and 3 some of the churches that John first brought this book to were tempted by the allure of the culture and so that's a sober warning to believers not to be led astray by the appeal of the culture and the desire of sensual pleasure the message of Revelation really is that this world is a stage on which a great spiritual battle is taking place and our actions in regard with regard to that battle are significant and God has a purpose and plan in this world and we are to live our lives in line with his purpose and plan and so those who oppose God's purposes will pay the price they will be faced judgment from him we as believers have a responsibility to be faithful and so throughout the book of Revelation the message that occurs again and again is hold fast persevere persevere to the end because God is going to win and God is the sovereign Lord even though along the way it might seem like things are going in the other direction and so the fact that God is going to judge evil and reward good calls us to respond in faithfulness to his message in faithfulness to his purpose and his plan not a doubt many details of the book of Revelation are hard to understand but its main ideas are still fairly clear John's purpose was to encourage his readers to be faithful to Christ even when they were suffering the offers of God's blessings should have encouraged them to be loyal to Jesus and active in good works and he threatened them with God's curses in order to drive them to repentance in one or both of these ways every image symbol and scenario in Revelation encourages faithfulness and if we keep this purpose in mind it'll help us understand what the book of Revelation meant for early Christians and what it means to us modern readers too now that we've explored the purpose of the book of Revelation let's turn our attention to its details the book of Revelation begins with a short introduction in Chapter 1 verses 1 through 8 following this the body of Revelation consists of four central visions a vision of Christ in chapter 1 verse 9 through chapter 3 verse 22 a vision about coming events in chapter 4 verse 1 through chapter 16 verse 21 a vision describing the punishment of the great prostitute in chapter 17 verse 1 through chapter 21 verse 8 and a vision of the bride the life of the Lamb in Revelation chapter 21 verse 9 through chapter 22 verse 5 after the four central visions the book ends with a conclusion in chapter 22 verses 6 through 21 the for large visions in the body of Revelation are each introduced with a statement that John was in the spirit John consistently used this language to mark the beginning of new divisions in the main body of his book when we go to interpret this phrase that John uses four times in Revelation at once I was in the spirit and once I was in the spirit something like this the easy part to observe is that it happens these four times and each time it happens it's at a turning point in the book of Revelation and and so I think this allows us to break down the book of Revelation into these broadly speaking these parts where you've got Jesus and the letters at the beginning and then you've got the throne and the judgments in the middle and then at the end you've got the harlot and then the King and then the bride and that's really the whole book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 1 verse 10 John wrote on the Lord's Day I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet in Revelation chapter 4 verse 2 he reported at once I was in the spirit and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone sitting on in Revelation chapter 17 verse 3 he said then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a desert and in Revelation chapter 21 verse 10 he wrote he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain of great and high and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God that reference to being caught up in the spirit is a reference to some sort of experience that John as a prophet is given in which he is brought into a visionary state to receive these symbolic visions the background is actually in the prophecy of Ezekiel in the Old Testament we're at a couple of points Ezekiel speaks of the Spirit taking him to a place and showing him things that he would not otherwise be able to see it's an experience that I think we don't fully understand maybe even the prophets didn't understand Paul talks in 2nd Corinthians 12 about being caught up to the third heaven and whether it was in the body or out of the body he wasn't sure I'm not sure that they really understood it but it was evident and clear that God was placing them in a position in the state where they could receive visionary revelation quite out of the ordinary and that they could then bring that word to us through inscripturated and putting it down in the Bible in the words that the Spirit gave them to describe these visions and then these experiences we'll explore each major section of the book of Revelation beginning with the introduction in Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 through 8 the introduction begins with a prologue in Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 that stresses the book's divine authority it originated from God the Father was given to Jesus Christ and was made known through an angel and his Christ's prophet John was an authoritative ambassador that relate Jesus message to his churches verses 4 and 5 contain a greeting in which John identified himself and his audience specifically he wrote to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia located in Asia Minor John also included a greeting from God the Father who was described as him who is who was and who is to come from the Holy Spirit whose fullness or completeness is symbolized as the seven spirits before his throne and from Jesus Christ whom John calls the faithful witness the firstborn from the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth in verses 5 through 8 John offered praise to God and this praise revealed some of his central concerns for his audience John praised God for his sovereignty convinced that God was working all of history for his own glorious purposes he praised God for redemption in Jesus Christ because Jesus life death resurrection and ascension were the basis for every hope John mentioned in his book and finally he praised God for the promise that Christ would come again the great future event when everything God has planned and promised will be fulfilled Christians can respond to our future hope full redemption in a spirit of hope hope is the confident anticipation of a positive future and the remarkable practical nature of hope is that it makes us buoyant it makes us persevering it makes us resilient and it gives us in the present a kind of anticipate of joy in the confidence that what is promised will become a reality it boys's up further by the sense of assured inevitability of the outcome for which we labor now in which in the natural might be a little shaky or uncertain from our limited perspective the final redemption that we are going to receive through Jesus is so unbelievably beautiful and glorious that our response has to be a sort of total response of our entire being to what God has done and promises to do for us in Jesus Christ that's what I understand first John chapter 3 to be saying when John says we are now the children of God but it does not yet appear to us while we shall be but we know this when he is revealed we shall be like him so anyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he is pure if the goal of God's Redemption is to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ if the goal of God's redemption in our lives is to bring us into a perfect union with him a perfect relationship of loving trust and obedience if the goal of God's Redemption is to fill us with his love and his spirit so that forever we are not just enjoying heaven but forever heaven is living in us then our response now can only be one thing Lord make me as much like Jesus in this life as a human being can possibly be I don't know what that looks like I don't know how it works but Lord make me into all that you can make out of me I give you my all I give you my life I surrender all that I am to you I don't want to live for anything else anything less then you're perfect and complete redemption at work in my life now after the introduction we find the vision of Christ and its application to the seven churches in Revelation chapter 1 verse 9 through chapter 3 verse 22 the vision of Christ begins with a description of Christ and concludes with Christ's letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor we'll look at each of these sections separately beginning with John's description of Christ in Revelation chapter 1 verses 9 through 20 before describing Jesus John expressed his unity with his readers by identifying himself as their companion in suffering Christ's Kingdom and patient endurance suffering has always been a reality for believers but John insisted that in the New Testament era our suffering has special significance Christ suffered as he stood against sin and because believers are united to Jesus we suffer too even so whenever we suffer we have the consolation that God is present with us and that he sovereignly rules over our situation in every circumstance even martyrdom we're obtaining victory over evil and death through the power of Christ John also indicated that he received this vision while he was in the spirit this probably indicates that John was in a state of spiritual ecstasy even though he wasn't physically moved to a new location this is one of the ways God revealed himself to the prophets in the Old Testament - as we can see in passages like Ezekiel chapter 3 verse 12 finally John concluded the preface by saying that a voice from heaven commissioned him to write visionary reports to the churches in Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea John's actual description of Jesus begins in Revelation chapter 1 verse 12 Jesus appeared as the son of man walking among the seven lampstands these symbolized the churches who brought the light of God in Christ to the world that was still under the tyranny of darkness the lampstands also would have reminded John's readers of the furnishings in the Old Testament tabernacle and in the temple and of the fact that Jesus is now in the heavenly tabernacle before the throne of God already in chapter 1 verse 4 John drew a symbolic connection between the seven churches of Asia Minor and the seven lights of the lamp stand before God in the tabernacle and later in the temple God manifested his glorious presence among his people and just as God once dwelled among his people Israel Christ now dwells among his church Jesus was also dressed in a robe and sash resembling the high priest in the Jewish temple his eyes were like flames of fire his feet were like burnished bronze his voice was powerful like the rush of many waters and a double-edged sword came out of his mouth and his face shone so brightly with his glory that he was like the Sun itself this appearance showed that Jesus was majestic glorious and powerful when we read Revelation chapter 1 one of the most striking things about that chapter is the vision we see there of of Jesus Christ the first thing we ought to say is clearly this is a symbolic picture of who Jesus is this is not a picture that's to be drawn or taken literally but we remember that John wrote his this book which is a letter a prophecy and also apocalyptic literature he wrote this book to suffering believers who were some of them were giving their lives for Jesus Christ and for the gospel and they were all living under that threat of losing their lives for the gospel in Chapter 1 we have this glorious picture of Jesus Christ as the son of man we have various descriptions of Jesus there he's wearing a priestly robe he is that he is the means by which we enter in the God's presence John pictures him as having white hair white as snow which is quite interesting because he's drawing thereon on Daniel chapter 7 and the person with the white hair in Daniel chapter 7 is Yahweh yet John applies that to Jesus showing that that Jesus is equal with Yahweh that he is a fully divine in this picture we have Jesus having a sharp two-edged sword in his mouth which is obviously not literal but it emphasizes the power of his word that that can cut and destroy his enemies so that the church can take comfort in in Christ is we're told there his face shines with glory that is he is he is the glorious Lord Jesus says to John II holds the keys of death and Hades this is what the church was facing they were facing possible death and so they were worried naturally about their future and and John emphasizes doesn't he that Jesus is sovereign that he is the resurrected one he is the Living one he is the first and the last he has conquered death they need not fear does it does it look as if Nero or Domitian whoever you think the Emperor was at the time that's debated but whoever the Roman Emperor was does it look like that Emperor wasn't control the political authorities are in control they're not in control Jesus reigns Jesus rules everyone will have to reckon with him so revelation is it's fundamentally a book of comfort for the suffering Church I call to persevere a cult to trust that Jesus is the sovereign the glorious Lord he's walking in the midst of the lampstands they should be comforted and strengthened and continue to hope and and to trust in him now that we've examined John's description of Christ let's look at Jesus letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters two and three Christ addressed letters to seven churches located in Asia Minor which is the western portion of modern Turkey he arranged the letters in the order a person delivering them might travel he wrote first to the coastal city of Ephesus then to Smyrna to the north and to Pergamum even further north next he looked in a south eastern direction addressing letters of Thyatira then Sardis in Philadelphia then Laodicea these letters record the words Jesus spoke in his heavenly courtroom and were designed to help the churches understand and respond to the visions that followed in general terms these letters all follow the same basic pattern with only slight variations in order this pattern contained many elements that resemble Old Testament prophecies and reminds us that John was serving as Jesus prophet to these churches first each letter starts with an address to the angel of that church some interpreters have taken this as a reference to human messengers representing each church but in this context of the heavenly vision it's more likely that these were actual angels that Christ assigned to each local congregation second there's a description of Christ drawn from his appearance of Revelation chapter 1 emphasizing a characteristic of Jesus that's relevant to the letter third there is a claim of knowledge indicating that Christ knows these churches and the details of their lives fourth there's an evaluation of the church consisting of commendations and often including rebukes fifth there's a mixture of offers of blessing and threats of curse appropriate to Christ's evaluation of the church sixth there's the promise that all who overcome will inherit eternal blessings and seventh each letter has an exhortation to obey Christ the similarities between the letters in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 alert us to the main ideas in this section Christ was addressing these churches as their rightful king he was aware of their presence circumstances and had the authority to evaluate them he offered blessings and he threatened curses to encourage their faithfulness and he reminded them that eternal salvation was only for those who overcame trials and temptations not surprisingly these themes also play a major role throughout the main body of the book of Revelation eases in the seven letters to the seven churches is wanting the church the individual Christians to show faithfulness of him to be obedient and regardless what is happening by way of opposition and there is plenty of that they remain faithful now notice there are seven churches true two of them were faithful and I'm referring to the church in Smyrna and the church in Philadelphia and Jesus has nothing but praise for these two now the others Ephesus and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis receive praise but also condemnation and then you have one more number seven and that is the Church of Laodicea and there is not a word of praise for the Church in Laodicea because it was self-sufficient we'll look briefly at each of these letters beginning with the letter to Ephesus in Revelation chapter 2 verses 1 through 7 in this letter John introduced Jesus as the one who holds seven stars in his right hand as he walks among the seven golden lampstands this description emphasized the light of Christ's glory and power as their King Jesus gave a mixed evaluation of the church in Ephesus they had commendable zeal for sound doctrine and they didn't tolerate wicked behavior they were specifically said to have hated the practices of the Nicolaitans a very early heretical group that may have mixed Christian faith with pagan eroticism but the Ephesian Church also received a strong criticism in Revelation chapter 2 verse 4 Jesus told them that they had forsaken their first love they had lost their enthusiasm and zeal for Christ and his kingdom so Christ warned them that if they didn't repent and return to their earlier enthusiasm he would remove their lampstand the symbol of Honor in heaven in other words they would be disciplined and perhaps even disbanded the letter to the church at Smyrna appears in Revelation chapter 2 verses 8 through 11 it opens with the description of Jesus as the first and the last who died and came to life again this description identified Jesus as the one who created all things and as the focal point of creations final destiny this is one of only two letters that doesn't include a rebuke for wrongdoing it focuses entirely on sympathy and understanding for the church in Smyrna which faced serious persecution probably because of unbelieving Jews we can see in acts and in the other New Testament books that right away the claim that Jesus is the Messiah begins to divide synagogues for example and Paul is a great example of someone who's put out of the synagogue for example in Ephesus he goes and teaches in a school hall or we began to see Christians who are meeting in households instead of in synagogue gatherings one of the things that puts a lot of pressure on that relationship early on is of course the claim that Jesus is the Messiah but also the influx of Gentiles we begin to see that those who are preaching Christianity are preaching Jesus as the Lord over all the nations and we began to see Gentiles responding and so the various sensibilities about the food laws about circumcision began to add more pressure and we see these sort of disputes break out like at Galatia over whether or not these Gentiles are to keep the law the other thing that is putting a lot of pressure on this relationship is the way that both of them are relating to Rome and Rome's power we know of course for example that the temple is destroyed in AD 70 and even before that that's because of Jewish revolution against Caesar and so in the wake of that we see Jews trying to re-establish their identity and they begin to discuss that and what that should look like and that adds further to the separation between Christians and Jews despite the problems the Jews in Smyrna created for the church Jesus exhorted his followers to faithfulness and encouraged them to trust him because he had overcome death next Christ address to the church in Pergamum in Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 17 in this letter John introduced Christ as the one who has the sharp double-edged sword Jesus words are razor sharp able to judge between right and wrong and this was directly relevant because his evaluation of the church was both positive and negative listen to what Jesus said in Revelation chapter 2 verses 13 and 14 you did not renounce your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness who was put to death in your city where Satan lives nevertheless I have a few things against you Jesus followed his commendation with a rebuke the church had failed to reject the Nicolaitans as well as teachings that were associated with Balaam these false teachers led many into pagan revelry and immorality and Christ warned that he would discipline the church they didn't repent the letter to the church in Thyatira appears in Revelation chapter 2 verses 18 through 20 million here John described Jesus as a purifying fire with eyes like blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze this description relates directly to the letters content because the church at Thyatira needed to be refined and purified in Revelation chapter 2 verses 19 and 20 Jesus had this to say I know your deeds your love and faith your service and perseverance and then you are now doing more than you did it first nevertheless I have this against you you tolerate that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess by her teaching she misleads My servants unlike the church in Ephesus the Fiat tyrants hadn't lost their first love for Christ instead their love had actually increased but they tolerated the false teaching of a particular woman whom Jesus pejoratively called Jezebel just like the infamous Queen Jezebel who appears in first and second Kings this woman seduced people into sexual immorality and idolatry two closely related practices among pagans in Asia Minor jesus warned this church to reject these false teachings and to remain faithful to him I think love and zeal need need we have to be coupled with strong doctrine if it's going to endure and if it's going to be christ-like I think some people have an emotional gift for love and for zeal but that emotional gift without a strong understanding of what God has told us in the 66 canonical books I think can very easily go way out of whack on the other hand I think there are some people that have an emotional gift for study and they want to understand and want to know what this doctrine has to say and they definitely lack love actually they can become fair sagal if they're not careful they can know all the right things but without that component of love of passion of zeal both for God and man they're definitely missing the boat it's important for us to reflect on the question of why our zeal and and love for Jesus Christ needs to be combined with shall we say sound biblically grounded doctrine indeed this is an essential and very dynamic combination when you get the passion of the heart combined with the clarity of truth in the head immediately to my mind comes a reflection of the Apostle Paul on some of his fellow Jews who had rejected Christ who were very passionate in their pursuit of the goals of the Jewish faith and the Apostle says for I confess that they have a zeal but it is not according to knowledge in other words the the passion was admirable but it was misdirected because it was not informed and tethered and stimulated by a clear grasp of the truth it's almost as though our zeal is the fuel in the tank of our car and the doctrines are the steering wheel if you're not headed in the right direction the accelerator pedal actually becomes a dangerous instrument and so we need to have that zeal channeled according to the truth and then it becomes a very potent force for good the letter to the church at Sardis follows next in revelation chapter 3 verses 1 through 6 here John alluded to the seven manifestations of the spirit and seven stars in Jesus hand to remind the church at Sardis that Jesus had all power and authority John drew attention to the authority of Jesus because his evaluation of this church was so severe as we read in Revelation chapter 3 verses one through three you have a reputation of being alive but you are dead wake up strengthen what remains and is about to die for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God if you do not wake up I will come like a thief the city of Sardis had a reputation as a strong fortress but on two occasions it had been captured by surprise and Jesus warned that he would do something similar to the church in Sardis if they failed to repent it would come as a thief attacking them by surprise but for those who remained faithful to him Christ promised purity vindication and reward Jesus led her to the church in Philadelphia appears in Revelation chapter 3 verses 7 through 13 in this letter John introduced Jesus as the one who holds the keys of David meaning that Jesus can open the doors of David's Kingdom to admit those he wishes and locked the doors to keep others out Jesus words to this church were positive but they also included an implicit warning in Revelation chapter 3 verse 8 he gave them this assurance I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut I know that you have a little strength yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name Christ had set before this church an open door giving them an unobstructed opportunity to grow and develop spiritually if they would take advantage of this open door Christ would make their enemies bow down at their feet and the Philadelphian believers would inherit the New Jerusalem and God's name would be written on them meaning that they would be his forever but by implication if they didn't take advantage of this opportunity they wouldn't receive his blessings next we find Jesus letter to the church in laodicea in Revelation chapter 3 verses 14 through 22 in this letter John described Jesus as the one whose words are the ultimate amen that is Jesus is the ultimate trustworthy authority John also described Jesus as the faithful and true witness and the ruler of God's creation this description was designed to make the Laodicean believers pay attention because their evaluation would be very negative listen to what Jesus said in Revelation chapter 3 verses 15 and 16 I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot I wish you were either one or the other so because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth [Music] Laodicea was a wealthy city located between the cities of kalasa and hierapolis both kalasa and hierapolis were well known for having special water supplies kalasa had cooler waters from Mountain Springs aeropolis had hot springs both of these waters were thought to have healing powers but the water in Laodicea was lukewarm without any human powers Jesus drew from these physical realities to make a spiritual point the Laodicean church was wealthy but their wealth had taken away their spiritual strength this church needed to repent where Jesus would reject them I think revelations two and three are absolutely key to the letter of The Book of Revelation because they give us in many ways the application points for the church and the characteristics the churches are asked to manifest and one a special one is found in the refrain at the end of each of the messages to the church which is to overcome to the church who overcomes to those who overcome it says and and that reminds us of the need to persevere but there's other overarching themes as well so so one of the words that you'll encounter is you're reading through those two chapters a number of times is to repent for those churches who are falling short of what the Lord is calling them to they are to repent should it be that they've lost their first love should it be that they've been following the teachings of a sectarian group or really a heretical group within the church they're called to repent from that as well and so the Lord is calling them back to himself in that moment but he's also calling those who do love him to continue and those who are persevering to continue in that as well and and to stay true to the save that to stay true especially to the worship of the Lord now that we've explored the vision of Christ let's turn to John's vision of coming events recorded in Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 through chapter 16 verse 21 according to Revelation chapter 4 verses 1 & 2 this vision takes place at the heavenly and reveals coming events that were still in the future in John's day it addresses all of the churches together and primarily focuses on the future as a great struggle between the forces of good and evil this vision was designed to encourage John's original audience to remain faithful throughout their struggles against sin and Satan because God's future victory was certain the first thing we should note about John's vision of coming events is that it consists of four series of smaller visions the seven seals seven trumpets the seven histories and the seven bowls some interpreters believe that these series should be read chronologically as if they portrayed consecutive stages of history but John never indicated that this was the case for one thing the temporal markers that link these series together phrases like after this refer to the order in which he was shown the visions not to the order of the events revealed in the visions for another there appeared to be a number of unique historical events in these visions that are mentioned in one or more series for this reason our lesson will adopt an interpretive perspective that has sometimes been called recapitulation generally speaking recapitulation happens when a later passage restates or repeats an earlier passage as it applies to the book of Revelation this term specifically refers to the idea that each series of visions describes the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ but with its own distinct details and emphases recapitulation is actually very common in Biblical prophecy Old Testament prophets frequently used this technique describing the same series of events in different passages sometimes the recapitulation use very similar imagery as in Jeremiah chapter 30 and 31 where Jeremiah prophesied about the restoration of Israel at other times recapitulation used different imagery to describe the same events as in Isaiah chapters 9 and 11 or Isaiah talked about the coming of the Messiah we see the same thing in the lawsuits God brought against Israel and Hosea chapters 9 through 14 and there are many more examples too so when John used this technique in the book of Revelation he was using a well known traditional biblical strategy to convey his message there are a number of clues and the visions themselves that strongly suggest that John was describing the same sequence of events from different perspectives for example John's visions refer to what we would call the final judgment three different times in Revelation chapter 6 verses 12 through 17 which is part of the vision of the seven seals the Sun turns black the moon turns blood red the stars fall to the earth and everyone on the earth hides from God's judgment in Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 which is part of the vision of the seven trumpets loud voices declare the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his christ and he will reign forever and ever in Revelation chapter 15 verse 1 which is part of the vision of the seven bowls we're told that when the seven bowls are poured out God's wrath will be finished each of these passages describes events that are associated with the return of Christ and God's final judgment on the earth but each series of visions also includes other details that seem to precede the final judgment for this reason it seems best to read each series of visions as a distinctive description of the entire history of God's kingdom prior to Christ's return even though recapitulation is a widespread view among evangelicals it's important to recognize that some don't interpret the book of Revelation this way so in this lesson we won't tie our interpretations too closely to the perspective of recapitulation even so we should recognize that most Christian teachers believe it makes the best sense of the literary structure of John's vision of coming events as well as the content of those visions as we've seen John's vision of coming events divides into four major sections the visions of the seven seals the seven trumpets the seven symbolic histories and the seven bolts will explore each series of visions beginning with the seven seals in Revelation chapter 4 verse 1 through chapter 8 verse 1 the vision of the seven seals consists of two main parts beginning with the description of God's heavenly throne room in Revelation chapters 4 and 5 this section shows us an important scroll with seven seals and sets the stage for the opening of those seals in chapters 6 through 8 Revelation chapter 4 verses 1 through 11 describes a scene in God's heavenly throne room and resembled similar visions in Ezekiel chapter 1 Isaiah chapter 6 and other Old Testament passages God was sitting on his throne and was being worshiped by heavenly creatures including for that John described in some detail each of the four was covered with eyes and had six wings but they had different overall appearances one resembled a lion another an ox another a man and another an eagle they probably represented all the creatures of the earth giving praise to God John's vision also showed twenty four elders surrounding God's throne probably numbered according to the 12 tribes of Old Testament Israel and the twelve New Testament apostles these elders symbolized the people of God throughout history whenever the for creatures praised God the elders bowed down acknowledging his majesty and authority and promised him their submission obedience and reverence beyond the elders was a myriad of angels that extended the praise of God outward and also praised the Lamb of God this scene also contains many images from the Old Testament descriptions of the tabernacle and temple lamps were blazing before the throne incense depicted the prayers of God's people there was a glass sea more perfect than the bronze one in the Old Testament and there were songs of praise like those offered by Levitical singers this symbolism indicated that John was given a view of God's heavenly throne room from which he rules over the entire universe and renders his judgments and this told John's readers that the vision dealt with matters of great importance the heavenly vision continued in Revelation chapter 5 verses 1 through 14 God held a scroll in his right hand representing his plan for the destiny of the world but none of the members of his court could open the scroll in other words none of them could accomplish his plan then one of the elders told John that the Lion of the tribe of Judah would open the seven seals and read the scroll the reference to the Lion of the tribe of Judah is drawn from Genesis chapter 49 verses 9 and 10 where we read these words you are a lion's cub Oh Judah the scepter will not depart from Judah nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his this prophecy indicated that Judah would rule over the tribes of Israel and eventually produce a king that would rule the entire world but when John looked he was surprised to find that the Lion of Judah was actually a lamb looking as if it had been slain of course the lamb was Christ he is the descendant of Judah the king of Israel and he became the passover lamb who gave himself as an atoning sacrifice just as we read in John chapter 1 verse 29 Jesus ability to open the scroll indicated that he was the one through whom God would accomplish all his plans for the world when you look at Revelation chapter 5 there's this great image of Jesus as lion and lamb now where does that imagery come from well the first thing we should note about that is the prophetic background of that image that it's a prophetic image that Jesus that John is giving us about Jesus and as we look to the Old Testament background we find that those are very rich themes the lion for example should be associated with the tribe of Judah from Genesis 49 where is prophesied that Judah will be a lion's cub and the scepter will never depart from Judah that he will rule over all his brothers and it's a victorious symbol it's a very mighty symbol a bed of the lion where the lamb come from well we might look to the Passover lamb in the Old Testament that is slain for the people and for for forgiveness of sins and we could also relate that to the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 the one who is pierced and led like a lamb to the slaughter and so John has taken these two images and creating for us a multi perspectival image on who Jesus is he's the lion and the lamb he is a slain lamb yes but that slain lamb is one that overcomes the one that is victorious and we see that in Revelation 5 where he has seven horns so the image of the land is not of a weak destroyed never to rise again land but it is of the conquering lamb the Lamb who is the Lion of Judah and the there was an association of these ideas with messianic hopes in Judaism and John is showing us how these images the reality that these images are fulfilled in Jesus Genesis 49 speaks of a lion from the tribe of Judah and this was developed in in Jewish expectation forth Israel and elsewhere referring to the conquering warlike lion and so John hears about this lion from the tribe of Judah who has overcome but when he turns what he sees is the antithesis of a powerful conquering lion he sees a lamb and not just a lamb which was considered the most powerless of creatures but a slain lamb and this brings us back to the heart of the gospel that we have throughout the New Testament and that is that Jesus overcomes particularly not by not by expressing power in the traditional sense but Jesus overcomes by the cross by dying God's followers made perfect in weakness God's glory is revealed his triumph is revealed in Jesus suffering the second part of the vision of the seven seals is the opening of the seals themselves in Revelation chapter 6 verse 1 through chapter 8 verse 1 it presents the opening of six seals followed by an interlude and then the opening of the seventh seal the first four seals released the well-known 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse that brought calamities on the world the imagery of the four horsemen is drawn from Zechariah chapter 6 our horses of the same colors is said to be the four spirits of heaven when the first seal was opened a rider on a white horse brought Conquest to the nation's second seal brought a rider on a fiery red horse representing slaughter war is the most obvious form of slaughter but the picture is broad enough to encompass other forms of human killing - the third seal produced a rider on a black horse that represented famine and the fourth seal brought a rider named death who wrote a pale horse and represented death by sword famine plagues and wild beasts as terrible as these calamities were only a fourth of the earth was affected most escaped this part of God's judgment when the fifth seal was opened John saw a vision of Christian martyrs in heaven these Saints had been slain because they had remained faithful to God and His Word they cried out for God to punish their murderers but were told that God wouldn't bring all his justice to bear just yet it would need to be patient until the number of those who were to be martyred was complete when the sixth seal was opened the entire earth experienced God's judgment there was an earthquake the Sun turned black the moon turned blood red stars fell to earth the sky retreated and every mountain and Island was removed this description recalls Old Testament prophecies about political upheaval like the ones we find in mosaic chapter 34 verses 1 through 4 and Joel chapter 2 verses 10 and 11 it was a way of saying that God was bringing final judgment that would destroy the present evil world yes you mean one day humans will be held accountable and have no excuse before God those who fear God will respect him even more but those who treat these things like a joke will face the future judgment it won't even have a chance to pray their only hope will be to have the hills and mountains fall on them to avoid the coming wrath of God seen this warning of judgment is one that God prepared specifically for the chosen people so that they will live out devout lives in fear of God and pray for the power to live in holy ways that please him between the opening of the sixth and seventh seals there is an interlude in revelation chapter 7 this interlude describes the church in ways that highlight God's protection of his people first John heard an announcement that 12,000 people from each of the 12 tribes of Israel 144,000 people in total had been sealed by God as his special people although this 144,000 has been understood in different ways the text of Revelation says that John heard an announcement of 144,000 but when he turned and looked he saw something quite different listen to how John described him in Revelation chapter 7 verse 9 there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation tribe people and language standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb you'll recall that something similar happened in Revelation chapter 5 John heard an announcement about a lion and looked and saw a lamb well something similar happened here he heard an announcement about 144,000 Jews then looked as saw an even larger crowd consisting of Jews and Gentiles together in both cases John heard words drawn from symbolism in the Old Testament the lion and the tribes of Israel but when he turned to look what appeared was much greater than what had been announced the symbolism of the lion was fulfilled in Christ and the symbolism of the tribes was fulfilled in a great multitude of believers from every nation after the interlude the opening of the Seventh Seal is recorded in Revelation chapter 8 verse 1 but instead of a grand climactic ending there was simply silence creation stood in awe the silence created dramatic tension for those who first red John's visions what was this mysterious final stage of history the answer to this question remained to be seen in the visions that followed now that we've explored the seven seals let's turn our attention to the second series of visions regarding coming events the seven trumpets in Revelation chapter 8 verse 2 through chapter 11 verse 19 the vision of the seven trumpets consists of a series of angels blowing trumpets each time a trumpet is blown another judgment involves on the earth it's important to see that the vision of seven trumpets is structured similarly to the vision of the seven seals the vision presents six trumpets followed by an interlude and then the seventh trumpet these trumpets recall the trumpets and Old Testament prophetic passages like hosea chapter five verse eight Joel chapter 2 verse 1 Amos chapter 2 verse 2 and Zechariah chapter 9 verse 14 their trumpets that sound when God comes with his angelic armies calling the heavenly hosts to war against God's enemies the first four trumpet blasts in Revelation chapter eight verses 2 through 13 signaled judgments through the angelic armies on the four major regions of creation when the first trumpet was sounded hail and fire mixed with blood was hurled on dry land the second trumpet sounded and something like a huge mountain was thrown into the sea the third trumpet sounded and a blazing star was thrown into freshwater sources making them bitter and undrinkable and with the sounding of the fourth trumpet the sky was damaged a third of the day and a third of the night were without light but as bad as these judgments were only a third of each region was destroyed at the end of this section though an eagle warned that even worse judgments were coming the fifth trumpet blast is recorded in Revelation chapter 9 verses 1 through 12 it set in motion an army of unnatural locusts John described these locusts as horses prepared for battle having crowns of gold human faces woman's hair lion's teeth and Tails like scorpions but their power was limited they could only wreak havoc on the earth for five months and they were only permitted to attack the wicked [Music] the sixth blast of a trumpet is recorded in Revelation chapter 9 verses 13 through 21 it released four angels from the Euphrates River who proceeded to destroy 1/3 of humanity these first six trumpets are followed by a two-part interlude in Revelation chapter 10 verse 1 through chapter 11 verse 14 in a scenario that resembled God's revelation of judgment to Ezekiel in Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 9 through chapter 3 verse 9 John received a little scroll containing prophetic messages and he was told to eat it the scroll tasted as sweet as honey probably representing the good news that God's plans for the world would be consummated without delay but the scroll also turned his stomach sour probably indicating that suffering would attempt the consummation of God's plans the second part of the interlude records John's vision of two witnesses who died for the sake of the gospel they performed miracles called people to repentance and warned of coming judgment but then they were slain by God's enemies John's vision of the two witnesses highlighted the most fundamental conflict in history the conflict between Jesus Christ and his enemies the two witnesses were supremely powerful but their opponents were extremely hostile and they murdered the witnesses this stark contrast highlights the reality that there is no middle ground in the conflict between Jesus and his enemies every human being is either for Jesus or against Jesus after the interlude the seventh angel sounded the seventh trumpet in Revelation chapter 11 verses 15 through 19 closing this series of visions Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 records this Proclamation in heaven at the sounding of the seventh trumpet the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his christ and he will reign forever and ever the seventh trumpet introduces the worship that will take place in God's throne room when his victory over all the kingdoms of the earth is secured and when he renders his final judgment on all creation Christ will returned to renew the earth his glory will be fully revealed and God's reign will be fully manifested throughout all creation the third series of visions dealing with coming events is the seven symbolic histories in Revelation chapter 12 verse 1 through chapter 14 verse 20 structurally the vision of the seven symbolic histories mirrors the visions of the seals and the trumpets the first six histories are grouped together followed by an interlude and then the seventh symbolic history but while the visions of the seals and trumpets focused on divine judgments the seven histories portrayed the spiritual conflict between Satan and the people of God the history's in this series revolve around key symbolic characters the woman the dragon the beast from the sea the beast from the earth the 144,000 believers the angelic messengers and the son of man the first symbolic character is a pregnant woman clothed in the Sun her history is found in Revelation chapter 12 verses 1 through 17 and resembles the birth of Jesus and Herod's attempts to kill him the woman who represents faithful Israel gave birth to the Messiah Jesus Christ her child was taken into heaven which may refer to Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven but the woman remained on earth and was persecuted by a great dragon God protected her so that the dragon couldn't defeat her but she still suffered because of the conflict this symbolic history represents the fact that Jesus descended from God's faithful people and that true believers continue to suffer because of Satan and his kingdom John's original audience would have understood that this conflict was at the root of their problems and would have drawn encouragement from God's protection and care for the woman at the same time they would have understood their need to persevere since the struggles wouldn't end any time soon the next symbolic history revolves around a huge red dragon and appears in Revelation chapter 12 verses 3 through 17 this history is presented simultaneously with the woman's history but as identified in Revelation chapter 12 verse 3 as a separate sign the dragon is described as enormous and red with seven heads and ten horns and seven Crown's on his heads and in verse nine he is identified as Satan himself in John's vision the dragon's tail swept a third of the stars from the sky and flung them to the earth this action may represent angels falling to become demons or simply political upheaval as in Isaiah chapter 34 verse 4 in mark chapter 13 verse 25 the dragon attacked the woman and her child highlighting the intense struggle between Satan and God's people in the Dragons history there was also a war in heaven in which Michael and the angels fought the dragon Michael threw Satan and his angels down to the earth once cast to Satan pursued the woman to persecute her but God protected her so Satan turns to attacking her offspring believers who obey Christ and keep the testimony of Christ this symbolic history would have helped John's readers understand that they were being persecuted because of Satan's hatred of God and in the course of a spiritual war even so Satan was already defeated and the church would suffer persecution only until the Dragons limited time on earth was done the third symbolic history revolves around the beast from the sea and is found in Revelation chapter 13 verses 1 through 10 this beast had the characteristics of a lion a bear and a leopard similar to the beasts in Daniel chapter 7 that represented idolatrous kingdoms this suggests that the beast from the sea symbolizes all the political powers that oppose the kingdom of Jesus Christ John also wrote that the beast had a horrible scar from a prior wound that should have been fatal the dragon gave the beast from the seed power and authority over all the kingdoms of the earth and all the inhabitants of the earth worshipped the Beast he was even given power to make war against the Saints and to conquer them John's readers probably would have associated this beast with a Roman Emperor or Empire as well as with Emperor worship they would have seen the need to resist the Beast and to remain faithful to Christ the fourth symbolic history centers on a second beast one that rises from the earth this history is found in Revelation chapter 13 verses 11 through 18 the beast from the earth had two horns like a lamb but spoke like a dragon it served the beast from the sea and performed from Iraq euless science in order to make the world worship that other beast it also forced people to receive the sign of the beast on the right hand or forehead together both beasts attempted to conquer the entire world John's readers would likely have connected this second beast with the Roman civic cult that coerced Emperor worship threatening to kill those who refused to worship the emperor like the history of the beast from the sea this one would have exhorted them to resist idolatry and to be faithful to Jesus the fifth symbolic history deals with the 144,000 believers that belong to God and appears in Revelation chapter 14 verses one through five based on the fact that God's name is sealed on their foreheads they appear to be the same group mentioned in Revelation chapter 7 verses 1 through 8 the seal of God's name on their foreheads contrasts with the mark of the beast on the foreheads of those that obey the Beast of the earth in John's vision these 144,000 believers stood with the lamb on Mount Zion praising God this symbolic history assured John's readers that true believers will ultimately escape the dragon and the beasts and receive God's blessing despite intense persecution faithful believers will be found pure and blameless the sixth symbolic history is a vision of three angelic messengers found in Revelation chapter 14 verses 6 through 11 in John's vision the first angel proclaimed the eternal gospel calling all people to fear God and worship Him the second angel announced the fall of Babylon the Great the capital city of those who opposed the kingdom of Jesus Christ and the third angel declared the final judgment of everyone that followed and worshipped the Beast these messengers communicated that Christ's gospel will triumph over every opposing Kingdom and that when Jesus returns his enemies will be eternally condemned John's description of these angelic messengers should have encouraged his readers that even though it sometimes looks like the church is being defeated Christ's Kingdom will eventually conquer his adversaries and if any of John's readers were considering worshiping the Emperor in order to avoid persecution this history would have warned them to resist that temptation after the angelic messengers John included a short interlude in Revelation chapter 14 verses 12 and 13 in this interlude John exhorted God's people to persevere to resist the idolatrous culture around them and voices from heaven proclaimed that those who remained faithful would ultimately receive God's blessing and rest the last symbolic history describes one like a son of man who sits on a white cloud and comes to reap his harvest his history is found in Revelation chapter 14 verses 14 through 20 the phrase like a son of man is also used in Revelation chapter one verse 13 where it specifically refers to Jesus and it's clear from the actions and context of Revelation chapter 14 that this son of man is also Christ the imagery in this history is drawn from Daniel chapter 7 verse 13 where one like a son of man comes on the clouds in order to enter God's heavenly Court in the first history of this series the history of the woman Jesus was pictured as a child that was taken up into heaven but at the culmination of these histories Jesus was pictured as the son of man reaping his harvest of faithful followers as one would harvest grain then a second Reaper this one an angel harvested the remaining inhabitants of the world and crushed out their blood in the winepress of God's wrath this vision declared the ultimate future victory of Jesus it showed that history is moving toward a grand climax for those who are faithful to Jesus will be vindicated but those who aren't will be destroyed John's original readers should have found this encouraging they would have recognized that their suffering wasn't worth comparing to the Rabb God would pour out on his enemies and they would have drawn hope and confidence from the fact that they would eventually be vindicated and blessed we often feel the tension of addressing ourselves to the issue how a loving God can send people to hell including his enemies and I think one of the reasons that we struggle with that sometimes is because we have abstracted the attribute of God's love which is a true attribute we've abstracted it from his character we've abstracted it from the narrative of Scripture and we overly sentimental Isaac we want to be careful not to dichotomize what is the holistic reality of God's character and if we take our understanding of God's love in conjunction with our understanding of his holiness we realized that though it's as though he'll of the sobering reality and final judgment is a sobering reality god is absolutely right and just to judge the unrepentant in hell and in fact if he didn't we wouldn't say that he was good if God did not esteem the proper worship of the one true God the way that he does in Scripture we wouldn't say that he was good if he looked at Skansen sin and treated it as though it were no big deal so the love of God is a critical attribute to understand we just don't want to abstract it and isolate it from the rest of what we know about the character of God has revealed in Scripture in series of the symbolic histories John's original readers should have been reminded that Christ had already defeated Satan on the cross and since Satan had failed to defeat Christ in his first coming believers could have every confidence that Satan would fail this time to eventually Christ would return and destroy Satan and his beasts and in the meantime believers suffered persecution only as a result of their defeated enemies dying gas now that we've surveyed the seven seals seven trumpets and the seven symbolic histories let's turn to the fourth series of visions about coming events the seven bowls of God's wrath in Revelation chapters 15 and 16 the vision of the seven bowls presents seven angels that four out seven golden bowls of God's wrath against the wicked this vision follows the same structure as the visions of the seals trumpets and history's six bowls are followed by an interlude and then the seventh Bowl is poured out and there are also other parallels worth noting for instance like the first four trumpets the first four bowls devastated the four major regions of the world dry land sea fresh water and sky but while the judgments of the trumpets affected only a third of the earth the bowls affected the entire world the first Bowl inflicted a plague of painful sores on all those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his name the second Bowl turned the sea to blood the third Bowl turned the freshwater of the rivers and springs to blood and the fourth Bowl created scorching heat from the Sun despite these devastating plagues the people cursed God and refused to repent the fifth bowl was poured out on the throne of the beast from Revelation chapter 13 it seems clear that this beast is the beast from the sea whose rule was supported by the beast from the earth this bowl plunged the beasts kingdom into darkness but its followers still cursed God and refused to repent when the sixth bowl was poured out it dried up the Euphrates River clearing a path for the kings from the east to invade God's promised land according to Revelation chapter 16 verse 16 a decisive battle between the kings of these and God's people could be fought at Armageddon or amount of Megiddo in ancient Israel Megiddo was a key city along a major trade route between the kingdoms of Mesopotamia and Egypt huge armies could assemble in the neighboring Jezreel Valley or as it's sometimes called the plain of Ezra LAN and God's people had previously achieved military victories in Megiddo so it was a fitting symbol to describe the climactic battle between God's servants and his enemies next John's vision paused for an interlude in Revelation chapter 16 verse 15 where we read this announcement behold I come like a thief blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed recalling his letter to the church in Sardis in Revelation chapter 3 Christ exhorted his followers to remain vigilant and faithful at all times after the interlude the seventh Bowl triggered the final destruction of the wicked thunder and lightning rained down and earthquakes shattered the cities of the nation's Islands sank mountains crumbled and giant hailstones crushed humanity this was the end of the age the destruction of the present world that will take place when Christ returns the series of seven bowls completed John's vision of coming events the seals trumpets histories and bowls all demonstrated God's commitment to intervene in history to ensure the safety and blessing of his people in John's day the Roman Empire seemed involve rubble to the churches of Asia Minor and many modern enemies of the church can seem equally powerful but God is determined to destroy his enemies and our enemies and this should encourage every Christian in every age to remain faithful to Christ even when we face severe opposition and depression now that we've examined at John's first and second visions let's turn to his vision of the punishment of the great prostitute in Revelation chapter 17 verse 1 through chapter 21 verse 8 this vision takes place in the desert according to Revelation chapter 17 verse 1 this entire vision focuses on the punishment of the great prostitute including the return of Christ a final battle in which the forces of evil are completely defeated the reign of those who are loyal to Christ and the final renewal of the heavens and the earth john designed this section to draw his audience's attention to the final blessings for those who were faithful to Christ and to the ultimate curses that would fall on those who weren't this twofold focus should have inspired his readers to seek God's blessings and to avoid his judgment there are two smaller series of visions within the vision of the punishment of the great prostitute the first deals with God's judgment on Babylon and the second focuses on the rain of the saints we'll look at both series beginning with the judgment of Babylon in Revelation chapter 17 verse 1 through chapter 19 verse 21 like John's visions of the seals trumpets histories and bowls his visions dealing with the judgment of Babylon also recapitulate church history in Revelation chapter 17 verses 1 through 6 the city of Babylon is presented as a prostitute she stressed in alluring clothes and she glitters with gold precious stones and pearls for appearance and prostitution are symbolic of all the illicit pleasures that seduce God's people away from true worship and faithful living but significantly she appears in the desert implying that she can't deliver on her offers of luxury and pleasure and to confirm this fact she holds a cup filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries the prostitute also sits on a scarlet beast that has seven heads and ten horns this is the beast from the sea described in Revelation chapter 13 it's covered with blasphemous names symbolizing its own wickedness and the idolatry of those who follow it the significance of the imagery of the prostitute and beast is then revealed in the rest of the series like the earlier series of the seals trumpets histories and bowls the structure of this series presents six messages of judgment and lament followed by an interlude but instead of a seventh message describing the final fight between Christ and his enemies this series ends with a vision of the battle itself the first message found in Revelation chapter 17 verses 7 through 18 interprets the details of the vision of the prostitute and the Beast we can summarize this message by saying that God will completely destroy everyone and everything that opposes him the second message in Revelation chapter 18 verses 1 through 3 declares the utter defeat of Babylon and all the nations kings and merchants she has seduced the third message recorded in Revelation chapter 18 verses four through eight calls God's people to reject Babylon and to separate themselves from her immorality and the fourth message reported in Revelation chapter 18 verses 9 through 20 containers merchants and sailors who had worshipped the Beast and profited from the luxury of Babylon sadly these laments --an didn't inspire repentance of faith in Christ instead the Kings merchants and sailors looked back longingly to the earlier time of babylons prosperity in each of these messages Babylon represents every nation and organization that opposes Christ's rule the message is encourage Christ's followers by proclaiming that the Lord will destroy all his enemies and that the wicked will mourn the loss of their sinful enjoyments but the messages also warn the church not to commit these same sins so that we don't fall under the same judgment adalat area morality are attractive to unbelievers but very attractive to believers as well it's a very simple it's the forbidden fruit it's what I want maybe there's something that I'm not supposed to have but there's something built inside of us that says take it anyway but anymore the point just frequently this stuff feels good in Marathi feels good it it quenches something in the moment but that's the point something that quenches in the moment doesn't necessarily have the lasting knowable holy value of something ought to have and that's why we've got to walk in faith to say what the Bible calls idolatry what the Bible calls in morality I'm going to go ahead and live with those definitions even though in the moment might not feel good I know it has some lasting value to it and again it shows us the way that God wants us to live the fifth message in the judgment on Babylon appears in Revelation chapter 18 verses 21 through 24 and pronounces the complete and permanent destruction of Babylon the sixth message in this series is recorded in Revelation chapter 19 verses 1 through 8 and contains the exuberant praise of God's people in heaven in response to the judgment against Babylon God's faithful people praise him and their praise continues as they recognize that the judgment against Babylon has cleared the way for the wedding between the Lamb who is Christ and his bride the church next an interlude interrupts the messages in Revelation chapter 19 verses 9 and 10 in this interlude John is commanded to write down a blessing for all those who participate in the wedding supper of the Lamb lastly this vision series concludes with the final battle between God and his enemies reported in Revelation chapter 19 verses 11 through 21 Christ appears as the divine warrior and wages war against all the enemies of God these enemies are led by the beast and the false prophet which are respectively the beast from the sea and the beast from the earth from Revelation chapter 13 and there is no contest the beast and the false prophet are defeated forever listen to how Revelation chapter 19 verse 20 describes their downfall the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf the two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur the final battle concludes all the wars God has waged on behalf of his people and completes the victory Christ won on the cross now than we've explored the judgment on Babylon let's examine the series dealing with the reign of the saints in Revelation chapter 20 verse 1 through chapter 21 verse 8 this series on the reign of the Saints includes three parts beginning with the thousand-year reign of the saints commonly called the Millennium in Revelation chapter 20 verses 1 through 10 in this section john saw an angel descend from heaven and bind the great dragon who is satan john saw that for the next thousand years satan would remain bound while the faithful Christian martyrs would come to life and reign with Christ John also saw that after the thousand years Satan would be released to gather the nations for the final battle against God as described in Revelation chapter 19 at the end of this battle all God's enemies will have been permanently destroyed even Satan himself will be thrown into the lake of burning sulfur forever most interpreters recognize that like the rest of John's apocalyptic prophecy revelation 20 is highly symbolic and believers interpret its symbols in a wide variety of ways in fact in the entire book of Revelation it would be hard to find a more debated passage than this one broadly speaking there are four major schools of interpretation for this passage each one is named in part after its understanding of the millennium or thousand years mentioned throughout this passage these four schools of interpretation are historic premillennialism dispensational premillennialism postmillennialism and all millennialism historic premillennialism and dispensational premillennialism are both premillennial systems meaning that they believe Jesus will return before the millennium starts by contrast post millennialism and all millennialism are both post millennial systems meaning that they believe that Jesus will return after the Millennium ends let's look at each of these systems in a bit more detail historic premillennialism is called historic because it's the premillennial view that has been held by different groups and theologians throughout church history it teaches that after Jesus returns Satan will be bound and Jesus will usher in the Millennium a thousand year period of earthly peace and prosperity believers will receive resurrected bodies at the beginning of the millennium unbelievers won't receive resurrected bodies they'll live longer lives than they do now but they will still die when the Millennium ends Satan's rebellion will take place followed by the final judgment and then God's eternal reign over the new heavens and new earth will begin this view understands Revelation chapter 20 to follow chronologically after chapter 19 dispensational premillennialism began to be taught in the 1830s there are variations within this view especially with regard to the timing of the final events before the millennium but in general dispensational premillennialism teaches that when jesus returns he will restore the nation of israel and visibly reign over the nation's from his throne in Jerusalem near the end of the millennium Satan will instigate a rebellion but God will completely defeat Satan and his armies afterwards The Last Judgment will take place and then God's eternal reign over the new heavens and new earth will begin like historic premillennialism this view understands Revelation chapter 20 to follow chronologically after chapter 19 in contrast with historic and dispensational premillennialism postmillennialism teaches that Jesus will return after the Millennium the Millennium itself is thought to be either the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ or the last thousand years before his return in either case during the Millennium Jesus rules from heaven through his earthly church and his kingdom progressively expands to cover and improve the entire earth all millennialism literally means no millennium it takes its name from the fact that it denies that the millennium is a literal thousand years it teaches that the Millennium consists of Jesus reign over the earth from his throne in heaven and through his church and the Jesus will return at the end of the millennium all millennialism is distinct from postmillennialism in a variety of ways for one thing all forms of all millennialism affirm that the millennium is the entire period between the first and second comings of Christ for another all millennialism doesn't insist that the millennial reign of Jesus and the Saints will constantly expand the kingdom and improve the world from an all millennial perspective Christians will experience both the blessings of the kingdom of God and Great Tribulation on earth until final victory is achieved at Christ's return there is a common ecumenical that is worldwide Christian view on certain things happening toward the end of time and we can find those cardinal doctrines the elements of it in the Apostles Creed for example the Apostles Creed said that Jesus ascended into heaven and from heaven he will return to judge the quick and the dead or the living and the dead so we all believe that there's going to be a final judgment and Jesus was going to return and he's going to be involved in that both of the living and the dead and of course now we have differences over the details of how that will work out but we all agree to best the case and then later on in the Apostles Creed it says we believe in the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body now this is an element of ecumenical Orthodox Christianity that many Christians don't even understand anymore that we believe that there's going to be a general physical resurrection of the body that is to say people are not going to exist as spirits forever they're going to receive their bodies again in fact Christians would receive glorified bodies much like Jesus had in his resurrection so this is another teaching that should be held by all Christians even though we disagree with each other over details so we believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting amen and that is to say that once there is this judgment resurrection of the body we also believe that there's going to be a new world a new day everlasting life that will go on and on and on and according to the Bible this is not going to be something that we do up in heaven floating around in clouds but rather on what the Bible calls the new heavens and the new earth so when Jesus comes back he will reign over the earth and we will reign with him these are elements of our outlooks on the end times or eschatology that all Christians of every variety ought to be able to affirm we that there is going to be a ruling and reigning of the Lord Jesus Christ through his gospel in some way whether it is his involves his personal presence immediately or eventually that's a question we're not clear on but we know that he is going to rule he is going to reign and it will be a manifestation of the power of the gospel we know that he will judge and there will be a judgment of the sheep and the goats and W some who are cast into being cast into eternal punishment because they do not have forgiveness of sin through him and there'll be others who will be called to enter into the glory that is prepared for them from before the foundation of the world we know those things are true we all agree on those things we know that heaven is going to be a place wherein dwelleth righteousness and Christ Himself will reign and we were glory in him and there will be no doubt as to the power and wonder of Jesus Christ all of us agree on that and we could go on with with other truths about about these last things this eschatology as we call it from the word eschaton and the number of things that we agree on because of the clarity of revelation is really quite astounding and I think we need to be careful not to focus so much on those areas in which we disagree although we need to carry on a fraternal discussion about it but we don't need to give the impression that the Bible is unclear and we really can't understand things because there are such a large number of tremendously important truths upon which we all agree when we come to discuss those matters it's important for followers of Christ to recognize that evangelical believers don't always agree and that the question of the millennium has historically been an area of controversy but regardless of which millennial interpretation we take all evangelical Christians can agree that Christ will return and achieve final victory over evil that Satan will ultimately be defeated and that God's people will live forever under Christ's reign in a restored creation we all share these same convictions and as a result we can all find great comfort and encouragement in the Bible's teaching about the Millennium the second part of the series on the reign of the Saints deals with the Last Judgement on God's enemies in Revelation chapter 20 verses 11 through 15 in this part of his vision john witnessed god rendering final judgment on all humanity based on their works this judgment included everyone who had ever lived believers whose names were written in the book of life were spared God's terrible wrath but the rest of humanity was condemned for their sins this aspect of the Last Judgment completely removed the presence and effects of sin in the world making way for the new heavens and the new earth finally the third part of the series of the reign of the Saints focuses on the Last Judgment for God's people in Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 through 8 John saw that the Last Judgment for God's people would be a great blessing the heavens and earth would be remade and a new Jerusalem would descend from heaven as the capital city of the new earth this symbolism points to the fact that in the new heavens and new earth God will dwell among his people God did this in the past in the Garden of Eden in the tabernacle and in the temple and now he dwells with us in Christ but in the new heavens and new earth our fellowship with God will be even greater because he'll manifest his glory among us and we'll live in his physical presence forever what I love to emphasize here is the fact that we have a new heaven and a new earth that when when the Lord does come again and does bring everything to a close we're going to not only have a new earth but even heaven itself is going to be touched by a newness having surveyed John's vision of the punishment of the prostitute let's move to his vision of the wife of the Lamb this vision is recorded in Revelation chapter 21 verse 9 through chapter 22 verse 5 in his fourth vision John was lifted onto a high mountain according to Revelation chapter 21 verse 9 this vision concerns the bride the wife of the Lamb which was the New Jerusalem this vision described the neverending beauty peace health prosperity and enjoyment that will exist after the world has been cleansed from the influence and presence of all God's enemies and when John's original audience read about it they would have been encouraged to pursue God's blessings by living according to its ideals and looking forward to the fullness of salvation that will come when Christ returns one of the scenes that we see concluding the book of Revelation is the emergence of the new city the New Jerusalem which comes to this earth so it comes to this terrestrial plane and we also notice that one of the key images of this this new reality is the Tree of Life which is a clear reference back to the Garden of Eden in Genesis 1 so in one sense creation begins in a garden but in another sense it's going to end in a city but it seems to be connected in some significant way the image that I have come up with that seems to comport quite well with my reading of Revelation is this world - the evil and if offered that proposition I think that'd be a fairly attractive alternative to live in a world where there is no weeping where there is no death where there is no pain where there is no suffering where there is no separation in some way between us and are created creating creating God the New Jerusalem is described in Revelation chapter 21 verses 9 through 27 it was prepared in heaven and then brought to the new earth the city was shaped as a perfect cube in the Old Testament the most holy places in the tabernacle and the temple were also cubes correspondingly just as God manifested his holy presence in the most holy places he'll reveal his glory to his people in the New Jerusalem both the dimensions and the descriptions of the New Jerusalem frequently mentioned the number 12 in the Old Testament this number is associated with the twelve tribes of Israel representing God's people in that age and in the New Testament the number 12 is associated with the Twelve Apostles representing God's people in the current age this suggests that in the New Jerusalem God's people are present in all their diversity and distinctive cultures within the New Jerusalem the River of Life float from God's throne through the middle of the city it nourished the Tree of Life whose leaves brought healing to all the nations this symbolized the fact that in the new earth the curse of sin will be eradicated from creation the entire world will be fully renewed and healed from all the conflicts with sin that have plagued fallen humanity throughout our history finally John saw that the New Jerusalem shone with the glory of God the jewels and precious stones of the city reflected his richness beauty and splendor and beyond this God's splendor filled the city so that it didn't need other sources of light including a Sun or moon [Music] the question is will the current heavens and earth be destroyed in order to make room for the new heaven and earth promised in Revelation 21 some people think so I would describe it rather as a radical transformation with underlying the radical so it's in some ways as if it's a destruction but the pattern is the pattern of Christ's own resurrection body his resurrection body was transfigured in comparison with what it was before he died but he still had the nail prints in his hands that's the pattern for our resurrection and it's also the pattern for the entire universe if you read Romans eight beginning with verse 18 certainly the new heavens and the new earth will be radically different than this heavens and earth that we're a part of now in that the curse will be removed the effects of the fall won't be here anymore but I do think most Christians tend to have an overly spiritual eyes do of heaven that doesn't include a very real and physical new heavens and new earth where God doesn't start from scratch but he does make new what he's already made he restores what's been lost tragically in the fall and so there will be a lot of continuity between what we have now and what is true in the new heavens and the new earth even though it will be a wonderfully renewed now that we've examined John's introduction to revelation and his series of heavenly visions let's turn to the books conclusion in Revelation chapter 22 verses 6 through 20 1 John concluded the book of Revelation by emphasizing the fundamental messages that had been repeated throughout his visions he emphasized that the visions he received for trustworthy because they had been delivered by the Lord's angel he exhorted his readers to persevere in good works in order to receive great blessings in the new heavens and new earth and John also reminded his readers that the consummation of God's kingdom and the final judgment are still in the future so for now Christians should faithfully persevere and sinners should take the opportunity to repent Revelation is a timeless message from God to his people regardless of our perspective on the timings and fulfillments of John's visions all Christians should agree that the book of Revelation is as relevant today as it was when John wrote it our circumstance may be different but our God hasn't changed and the values and perspectives John taught are still binding on us today we can be encouraged by God's goodness in the past present and future we can be confident in his love for us and his control over history and we can respond to him in faith now and for the rest of our lives having discussed the purpose and details of the book of Revelation we're ready to address our third major topic strategies for the application of Revelation our discussion of the modern application of Revelation will divide into two parts first will describe and critique for common strategies for applying the book of Revelation and second will suggest an integrated strategy it makes use of elements from all four common strategies let's look first at the four common strategies for applying revelation the first thing we should say is that each of these four strategies has something very useful to offer but none of them is entirely sufficient on its own the situation is reminiscent of the old story of the blind man and the elephant where each blind man describes the part of the elephant he is touching but none sees the whole elephant this story exists in different versions in different cultures one man might touch the elephant's leg and believe the elephant is like a pillar one might touch its ear and believe the elephant is like a hand fan when might touch its tail and think the elephant is like a rope one might touch its trunk and conclude that the elephant is like a water spout and so on all of them are correct insofar as their assessment goes but none sees the whole elephant in a similar way there are many popular but insufficient strategies for interpreting the book of Revelation each strategy examines the symbols in Revelation and decodes them according to its own perspective but because these perspectives are so limited each view misses the big picture and full meaning that the visions of Revelation present before common strategies for application that will survey in this lesson can be referred to as preterism futurism historicism and idealism each dippers and how it interprets the period of time the book of Revelation covers and the manner in which its visions are fulfilled will consider all four views individually beginning with preterism the word preterite refers to things that happened in the past accordingly the strategy of preterism says that most of the prophecies in the book of Revelation were fulfilled in the distant past one form of preterism says that revelation was written prior to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and that most of its prophecies were fulfilled by that time another form suggests that these visions were fulfilled in the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD preterism provides a helpful focus on John's original audience it sees the importance of the detailed knowledge of the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 it reminds us of the real persecution those churches experienced and it makes thematic connections between chapters 2 and 3 and the rest of the book praetor ISM rightly insists that John wasn't merely writing for future generations and that Christ's concern for an encouragement of John's original audience should inform our modern application of the book and most forms of pritter ISM rightly understand that the final chapters of Revelation speak about Christ's future return we can draw many useful applications from this approach to Revelation for instance it can teach us about God's character and the way he rewards righteousness and punishes evil it can help us understand how to respond to crises in our world and even give us hope in crisis future return but despite these valuable insights preterism doesn't provide a complete perspective on Revelation for one thing it often wrongly assumes that apocalyptic literature is written exclusively about its own time rather than about the distant future but the truth is that numerous apocalyptic passages in the scriptures refer to distant future events including Daniel chapter 7 through 12 Matthew chapter 24 and second Thessalonians chapters 1 & 2 similarly preterism is too narrow in its interpretation of temporal statements like the time is near in Revelation chapter 1 verses 1 and 3 and again at the end of Revelation in chapter 22 verse 10 preterism insists that statements like these don't refer to the whole period of time between the first and second comings of Christ even though that time lies just before the final judgment moreover preterism doesn't normally acknowledge that this timeline might be modified by historical contingencies as a result it tends to ignore distant future fulfillment and to look for fulfillment only in the context of the original audience by the nature of its interpretation of Revelation preterism as little to say about the development of God's kingdom since the first century it doesn't prepare Christians throughout history for the ways most of the prophecies of Revelation might be fulfilled in their own lifetimes it doesn't even create an expectation of continued martyrdom and continual opposition in these and other ways preterism doesn't give us the full range of application the book of Revelation has to offer with this understanding of pritter ism in mind let's turn to futurism futurism is the view that the visions and revelation won't begin to be fulfilled until the final crisis immediately preceding the second coming of Christ like preterism futurism has insights to share it correctly says that revelation looks forward above all to the great events of Jesus Christ's return we see the central concern in passages like Revelation chapter 22 verse 20 futurism also rightly looks for a future day of final judgment and the eventual restoration of all creation that is confirmed in other parts of Scripture such as Romans chapter 8 verses 19 through 25 these interpretations can be applied in many useful ways they give us hope in Christ's future return judgment and renewal of the creation and they encourage Christians in all periods of history to watch for this time but despite these valuable contributions futurism overlooks the ways the book of Revelation spoke to its original audience in fact it tends to downplay applications by generations other than the last generation before Christ returns even though John mentioned seven ancient churches by name and addressed each of them specifically it would be difficult for the seven churches mentioned in chapters 2 and 3 to believe that this book wasn't written with their situation in mind in this way futurism tends to make the book of Revelation appear largely irrelevant to most audiences throughout history now that we've examined preterism and futurism let's look at the third common strategy for application which we've called historicism historicism assumes that the visions of revelation offer a chronological outline of the course of church history from the first century until the Second Coming historicism typically says that revelation chapters 2 through 12 relate to events in the first few centuries chapters 13 through 17 relate to the Protestant Reformation and chapters 18 through 22 relate to the events surrounding the Second Coming astora sysm offers several valuable insights it correctly sees that revelation begins with the situation of the seven churches it also correctly associates the ending scenes of Revelation with the second coming and it rightly notices that revelation moves toward a climax that a drama develops as we read through the book historicism recognizes that the book of Revelation is intended for the church in all ages it encourages us to persevere until Jesus returns and to affirm that at that time he'll renew the heavens in the earth and it reminds us that God's in control of history and that his plan can't fail to come to completion but historicism is problematic in other ways for one thing it assumes that all the prophecies in Revelation are strictly chronological it feels in the gaps between the early church the Reformation and the return of Christ by stretching a timeline from the first century to the last and correlating the visions in-between with events of world history but as we saw earlier in this lesson the structure of the book of Revelation isn't strictly chronological this can give Christians a false sense of where they are in redemptive history sometimes inclining them to inappropriate tesam ISM and sometimes to inappropriate optimism it can even produce a sense that we can't deviate from the timeline perceived in Revelation as if our own actions are incapable of moving God to pity or anger and incapable of changing the apparent course of history a second problem with historicism is its dependence on the Protestant Reformation as a key point in the history of Christ's worldwide church historicism tends to ignore the global search often limiting John's prophecies to events within Western Christianity and sometimes even more narrowly to events within European Christianity this orientation wrongly downplays the role of the church in other parts of the world and this can be very discouraging it can cause believers to think that their actions are insignificant and take away an important motive for pursuing the continual growth of God's kingdom throughout the entire world having looked at preterism futurism and historicism let's turn our attention to the fourth common strategy for application idealism instead of claiming that revelation depicts events from one time period or another idealism holds that the scenes in Revelation depict general patterns of spiritual war not specific events or chronologies like the other common strategies idealism provides some valuable insight it acknowledges the thematic arrangement of some prophecies in the book of Revelation and it highlights the fact that Satan's methods are fundamentally consistent throughout history making them rather predictable idealism also tends to recognize the general New Testament pattern of inaugurated eschatology that we discussed earlier in this series and it emphasizes the application of Revelation to our modern situation by generalizing beyond the particular circumstances of the first century and the final crisis these insights increase our ability to read and to use Revelation as John intended to help us focus on God's character and on the nature of his dealings with the world they prepare us to live for him in all periods of history and to hope in Christ's eventual return but idealism also has shortcomings perhaps the most obvious is that it fails to identify any of the symbols of Revelation with historical events at the very least John's original audience needed his apocalypse to help them uncover the meaning of events that we're taking place in their time when the book of Revelation was explicitly designed to provide this kind of insight claiming several times that God was revealing to John a way of understanding what must soon take place we see this in the beginning of the book in Revelation chapter 1 verse 1 as well as near the end in chapter 22 verse 6 as we read in Revelation chapter 22 verse 6 the Lord the God of the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place verses like this should make it clear that the book of Revelation is directly concerned with many real events that take place in the natural world but idealism discourages us from drawing this type of legitimate application from these passages now that we've looked at four common strategies for interpreting and applying the book of Revelation to modern life we're ready to suggest an integrated strategy our integrated strategy begins by recognizing that preterism futurism historicism and idealism all make useful contributions to our understanding of the modern impact of Revelation so rather than completely disregard these strategies our integrated strategy combines the valuable insights of each of these views while at the same time avoiding their shortcomings we agree with preterism that the prophecies of Revelation were relevant to the seven churches of Asia Minor that first received the book but we also agree with futurism that some of Revelations prophecy spoke about the events surrounding Christ's return in the final judgment and we agree with historicism that God controls all of history moving it towards a climax in Christ's return and we agree with idealism that the satanic forces of evil symbolized in the book of Revelation still tempt us to compromise our faith we might summarize the integrated strategy of application as consisting of two parts or steps first we use every available means to discern principles and truths in the book of Revelation this might be truths about God's character truth about his interaction with the world truths and our obligations before him truths about the course of history or anything else John taught in the book of Revelation and second we look for parallels between the circumstances of John's original audience on the circumstances of our own lives and those parallels guide our application the first step of discerning principles and truths in Revelation can be very complex since the book teaches so many ideas so it will be helpful for us to mention some of the more important themes John emphasized these themes are easy to apply to modern lives and relevant ways for example we can look at the fact that Christ's life death resurrection and heavenly reign have made him worthy of all worship we can also focus on the idea that Christ's complete victory over evil is certain and that his kingdom will never end we can stand against the Satanic forces at work in this world that might try to trick us into worshipping them knowing that they enslave and curse their followers rather than bless them and we can remember that those who are faithful to Christ in this life will receive glorious rewards in the next life we can be motivated to persevere under hardship knowing that the persecution we endure pales in comparison to God's wrath against his enemies we can take comfort in the fact that God's faithful people will be protected from his terrible judgment and we can draw hope from the knowledge that one day the curse of sin will be eradicated from this world and God will dwell with his people in perfect peace and righteousness and in the meantime we can be confident that God will bless the continued witness of the church and that he'll use it to bring more people to faith in Him the second step of finding similarities between John's original audience and today's audience can also be complex since there are so many details to consider so it can help to have a responsible strategy for making these connections they're interesting similarities between the Roman Empire and the modern world which allow us to apply the lessons of Revelation to modern life most significance I think is that you have a situation in the first century where there is a hostile government force if you like that is opposed to the church that the church is a a deviant sect within wider society that is routinely oppressed by the government that I think is something that is the common experience of many Christians in the world today and will become increasingly common even in the West in the next century so the lesson of the book of Revelation that the promise of Matthew 16:18 that the church will prevail that the church is the meaning of history ultimately that lesson the book of Revelation is something that will be increasingly relevant to a church that sees itself marginalized and pushed to the the and skirts of society think even though we're removed but now by two millennia from the world of the book of Revelation in its initial writing there really are some similarities between the Roman Empire of that day and in this present era among them the fact that in both cases there is life going on in a very very diverse population there are internal stresses and amazing polarities between the very rich and the very poor the privileged the less so the marginalized there's tremendous movements even though there are static elements tremendous movement within the first century people on the move travelers traders people voluntarily sometimes out of desperation winding up in very different places from their place of birth so there are a lot of social dimensions and linguistic dimensions that I think speak to us besides the multitude of smaller similarities we can find between ourselves and John's original audience there are at least three prominent similarities that can help guide our application first the same God that ruled creation in the first century still rules the world today he still controls history he still protects his people he still answers prayer and he still deserves our loyalty thanks and praise second the same fallen sinful world that troubled the churches in Asia Minor continues to tremble Christians today we still face spiritual forces of evil we still suffer hardship caused by events in nature we still fight against disease and hunger and third human beings are still the same - we're still sinners that need Redemption healing and a restored relationship with God similarities like these make the book of Revelation just as relevant today as it was in the first century in many different ways the book of Revelation gives hope to all Christians in every age its messages are timeless always relevant and just as powerful for us as they were for the seven churches in Asia Minor revelation can encourage us to remain faithful to Christ in every circumstance and it can give us hope for the future no matter how bad our lives sometimes look we really are on the winning side and this hope can sustain us because we know that one day Christ will return to bless us as the heirs and rulers of his perfect permanent new creation in this lesson we've examined the purpose of the book of Revelation in terms of its offers of blessing and threats of curses we've surveyed the details of its content and we've considered its modern application by looking at some common strategies and a more integrated strategy for application throughout this lesson we've seen that revelation assures us of God's final victory encourages our perseverance and increases our longing for Christ's return our future blessing is certain and they can give us comfort and determination when we're tempted or even persecuted God never intended this book to divide Christians over our theological differences he intended it to encourage every believer in every age to live and faithful obedience to him and to hope in the glorious return of our Savior Jesus Christ [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Thirdmill

Views: 113,975

Rating: 4.7690663 out of 5

Keywords: Study, Bible Study, God, Scripture, Ministry, Truth, Education, Bible, Free, Seminary, Theology, Reformed, Jesus, Revelation, Richard Pratt, For the World, Third Mill, Biblical Education, Mission, Theology Matters, Third Millennium Ministries, Book Of Revelation (Religious Text), end times, last days

Id: Wjf1siMLPF0

Length: 128min 38sec (7718 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 27 2017