Midweek Bible Study | Intro to the book of Revelation | Gary Hamrick

well let's go to Revelation then chapter 1 we have Bibles for you too if you didn't bring a Bible or you don't have one we're happy to provide one for you as the ushers come up and down the aisle just raise a hand they will give you a Bible revelation is an easy book to find it's all the way in the back of your Bibles it's the last book of the Bible but just in case I did find the page number for those of you who take a church Bible as page 1203 the book of Revelation chapter 1 and page 1203 in those church Bibles we're gonna read the first three verses pray and then have a very lengthy introduction to this book tonight because if I don't lay the foundation properly with you then this book will be more difficult to understand so I know we are anxious and eager to get through this whole it's 22 chapters long friends we're gonna be here for a while alright we will be here so long it's possible that Jesus will come before weave in it hitches which is obviously fine with all of us that is if you're ready if you're not ready you need to get ready so that it can be fine with you too if Jesus comes before the end of our study through this book but we are going to take our time we're not in any rush this is a heavy-duty book of the Bible it's probably I think at least from a teacher's standpoint one of the most complicated books to to study I remember it might even been this last summer seems like every summer we go on vacation and we try to have some family devotions together and Terry loves the book of Revelation she always wants to read revelation on vacation and I and my reaction is always the same she's like can we read revelation revelation how about Jude it's just that would be a lot easier it's vacation but anyway we're gonna make our way through this book over the next many months and and I pray that you will be with us and and study together bring a notebook I will try to go as slowly as possible but in some ways it's just unavoidable that you will be like drinking out of a fire hose because this is gonna be somewhat information overload I got a lot of slides tonight and again I'm gonna do my best try to write quickly and I will try to speak slowly and maybe we'll meet somewhere in the middle but revelation chapter one let me read the first five verses then we'll pray and we'll kind of lay a foundation here and and give an introduction to this book together so chapter 1 verse 1 the revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show his servants things which must shortly take place and he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John who bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ to all things that he saw blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it for the time is near let's pause there and pray lord thank you for this time together in your word in your house we pray that as we go through the book of Revelation that you would open our our ears that we might hear that you would open our eyes we might see that you might open our hearts that we might receive and we thank you that you've given these things to us in advance that we might be prepared that we might have a glimpse I might have an understanding of things that are to come and we thank you Lord for the joy and the hope of the church that you are coming again so fill us Lord with great expectation and great joy as we read through this book and we thank you that right here in the beginning of this first chapter you tell us that blessed are those who read it and those who hear it and so Lord we thank you for your blessing that is already a part of the study of this book together we praise you and we thank you in Jesus name and everybody said amen now by way of introduction one of the things that I want to try to do through the book of Revelation is to not make any assumptions about where any of you are in relation to the Lord some of you might be new in your faith others of you might be more mature in your faith and some of you may not claim to have a walk with Jesus at all which is which is fine I'm trying to I'm gonna try to do my best to go through this book keeping in mind that some of you are new Christians some of you are older Christians and some of you may not be Christians at all and one of the things that we need to do before we start digging out verse by verse which is what we're gonna do here on Wednesday night through this book is again to lay the foundation I'm reminded of Vince Lombardi the great football coach who every season when he would begin a season with his team he would hold up a football and he would say gentlemen this is a football and he just started with the basics so we have to start with the basics so we'll come back to Revelation but I'd like you to turn in your Bibles to the book of Acts chapter 1 back in your New Testaments earlier on Acts after one and if you have a church Bible its page 10 69 Acts chapter 1 and the church Bibles is page 10 69 in Acts chapter 1 Luke writes this in verse 1 the former account I made Oh Theophilus of all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day in which he was taken up after he through the Holy Spirit had given Commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God and being assembled together with them he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the father which he said you have heard from me for John truly baptized with water but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now therefore when they had come together they asked him saying Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel notice even his own apostles were wondering about future events and when will the kingdom of God really be manifest on earth and and Jesus says to them in verse 7 it is not for you to know the times or seasons which the father has put in his own authority but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth now when he had spoken these things while they watched he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight and while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went out behold two men these are angels stood by them in white apparel who also said men of Galilee why do you stand gazing up into heaven this same Jesus who was taken up from you into heaven will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven so here's the foundation really for the book of Revelation it's important for us to understand the purpose behind Revelation is to give us hope and this joyful expectation concerning the imminent return of Jesus Christ but you have to first understand his his ascension and that he has gone back into heaven before you can appreciate Revelation telling us events that are going to happen preceding and including his second coming so what the book of Acts tells us or for those of you who know the story reminds us is that Jesus was crucified and after he was crucified he was dead and buried and three days later he rose from the dead and then he appeared to two people and this why luke says here with many infallible proofs therein in verse three and he walked among people in his resurrected state for forty days is also what we read here in in chapter 1 verse 3 of Acts and then the Bible says that he was taken up into heaven that he was in Jerusalem and then on the Mount of Olives was lifted up and his apostles were standing there gazing up into heaven as Jesus was taken up into heaven to the place from which he came and his own apostles were standing there with wonder and these two angels appear and they basically come for the guys and say listen he's going to come back again he's gonna come back the same manner same place from which he ascended he shall return and so when we are reading the book of Revelation we are reading about events that had been given to us prophetically future events concerning what things will look like just prior to and including the return of Jesus Christ and so in some ways it's like Christians have been given a cheat sheet you know it's like it's like if you had a major exam at collagen and and and before you went into the classroom to take the exam you're walking to class and on the sidewalk is a piece of paper with all the answers for the test you're about to take and and just with joy you're like I got all the answers and I'm I know what the questions are gonna be and I know what the answers are gonna be and in some ways I feel a little giddy like that like the book of Revelation has been given to us where it's like gods cheatsheet about things that are to come that we can know in advance some of the answers so revelation shouldn't be approached with like this spooky kind of like oh wow and there's heavy stuff in here I mean you know there's there's hail there's fire there's there's locusts there they're demons there's Antichrist there's all this kind of stuff and your heart can get way down like this is this is heavy stuff but look at it as God's given us some answers in advance about things that are to come why so that we can be ready so we can be ready now nobody knows the time of the Lord's return and anybody who says that they can date the time of the Lord's return is a false teacher or false prophet but we can and should know the seasons we should know some of the predictors and indicators that are on the horizon even now and over the course of our study through Revelation I will try to integrate some headlines that aren't necessarily a fulfillment in Revelation but have to do with things leading up to the second coming of Christ because listen to this jesus said in in Matthew chapter 16 in verses 1 2 & 3 it says then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and testing him asked that he would show them a sign from heaven he answered and said to them when it is evening you say it will be fair whether for the sky is red and in the morning it will be foul weather today for the sky is red and threatening hypocrites you know how to discern the face of the sky but you cannot discern the signs of the times and so even though we could never it should never put a date on when Jesus is going to come again we should at least be acquainted with the signs of the times there are some things happening in our world right now that are a harbinger our predictors are indicators of things related to the soon and coming return of our law and so we need to be looking at events in our world we need to be you know reading the news and we need to be wise about things and we need to see it through the lens of the imminent return of Christ and what God tells us in advance are some things related to his second coming so in that sense we should be prepared for these things and this is why Jesus said in John 14 verses one two and three said let not your hearts be troubled you know these things shouldn't trouble us he said you believe in God believe also in me for in my father's house are many mansions and if it were not so I would have told you but I go to prepare a place for you that's where Jesus is right now he's preparing our eternal home for us he says I go to prepare a place for you and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you might be also that's our hope he is coming again and so with great expectancy we should read the book of Revelation so let's go now back to the book of Revelation and let me give you now it's a-you can answer the phone and let them know Jesus is coming again but I'm gonna give you just a lot of again this is this is an intro session tonight this is a lot of information but I gotta I gotta lay the foundation before we even start looking verse by verse through all of this so here's the basic background to the book of Revelation for those of you who like to take notes it was written by the Apostle John and he's identified by name there right in in verse one that this was delivered to God servant name there John and the year that he wrote this by inspiration of the Holy Spirit was around 95 ad now that would make him about that old because it is believed that he was born around you know the same time that Christ was or just just slightly thereafter so so he is in his 90s by this time he is the oldest and the last surviving of the original 12 apostles and we find that he writes this letter from little island in the Aegean Sea called Patmos it is identified for us in in the story and we actually find out from him why he is on the island of Patmos I mean it's a Greek island I mean if you're gonna be banished to an island you might as well be in the Greek islands phrase God but but he's under duress here these are not favourable circumstances he's not vacationing on Patmos he's been banished there by Domitian who was the Roman Emperor from about 90 to 96 ad and he John tells us in his own words here in chapter 1 if you glance down to verse 9 why he has been banished there this is a this is a prison camp this is a Roman colony that has been turned into a prison camp on Patmos and they send prisoners there and he tells us here in chapter 1 verse 9 he says I John both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ so again this is 1st century AD and he's being persecuted along with thousands of other Christians and and so because of because of the Word of God and his testimony that is to say he has not renounced his faith he's a Christian Domitian the emperor has been persecuting Christians along with Nero before him and he banishes john to the ID of the Patmos for hard labor and so here he is you know an older man when he should be drawing Social Security and and living in Florida instead he is on the island of Patmos hauling buckets of rocks this is his life but while there the Lord's not done with him you know it's so amazing to me how God can use both those who were young and old and he's not done with John and he gives John this incredible revelation and that's an important point to also point out this is a revelation of Jesus Christ not a revelation of John it tells us right in chapter 1 verse 1 the revelation of Jesus Christ the word revelation in the Greek is apocalypsis apocalypse this is where we get our English word apocalypse and it just means an unveiling or a revealing we talk about the apocalypse that's all it means it's a fancy Greek word that that just means there's an unveiling here there's a revealing there's a revelation the unveiling here is not about John he's just the instrument that God uses to give him vision and to help them to see the things that are to come and he pens the stuff the revelation is about Jesus Christ this is the revelation of Jesus Christ and what a revelation it is there's an amazing majestic description of Jesus in chapter 1 that we won't get to tonight but suffice it to say that even in the introductory chapter here Jesus is revealed in a magnificent way there are 32 titles for Jesus throughout the book of Revelation 32 titles nine of them are in the first chapter and yeah this probably won't stay up as long as it you need it to to write all these 9 down but you'll be able to when we go through chapter 1 you'll be able to take a highlighter and you'll notice these with me but just to read the list these are different titles for Jesus just here in chapter 1 he's called the faithful witness and verse 5 he's called the firstborn from the dead and verse 5 because he was the one who rose again now Jesus raised a few people from the dead during the course of his ministry but they died again you know poor Lazarus but Lazarus rose from the dead I rose from the dead he was like yeah Lazarus Lazarus died again all right but Jesus was the first one who rose from the dead and never died again and he's reminding us say I'm the first I'm not the last because that's gonna be our Blessed hope as well the firstborn from the dead he's also the ruler over the kings of the earth that's also verse 5 he is the Alpha and the Omega now New Testament is written in Greek in in Hebrew it's Aleph and Tov it's the first in the last letters of the alphabet and so he's saying I am the Alpha and the Omega I'm the Aleph and Tov I'm also number five the one who is who was who is to come that's verse eight he's known as the Almighty also in verse eight El Shaddai in Hebrew he is known as the Son of Man in verse 13 he's known as the first and the last and verse 17 and he is known as the living one in verse 18 so nine titles that he is given here in Chapter one kind of just sets the stage for how amazing and majestic and awesome our Lord is a nine out of the 32 titles now there are different ways to interpret the book of Revelation and this is also critical to us properly understanding this book and I'm going to give you the three different methods not to confuse you but just you know to inform us about how different people interpret the book of Revelation and I'm going to tell you that the way that we're going to be interpreting this is number three the the literal futuristic way but these three ways of interpretation are either allegorical historical or literal and by literal we're also talking about it has its prophetic its futuristic but again you know good Christians will will differ on how this book should be interpreted in in what way should it be interpreted again I'm going to give you the definition of these so we can understand this going forward but this is probably going to be a little bit more than you can jot down and the time that I'm going to read through it but the allegorical method of interpretation is basically this it's the idea that everything in the book of Revelation is about symbolism it's just about you know things like good versus evil paganism versus Christianity and the ultimate triumph of Christ in our lives the book is seen as a spiritual allegory for the comfort and encouragement of the church search denying prophecies of literal future events okay so that's the allegorical interpretation so there are some people who read this book and say well it's just a wonderful allegory and it's to comfort the church it's to let us know about things that are crazy in the world Jesus is coming again and so let's just be comforted but it is not it is not read in terms of its prophetic content its futuristic content it's read as something that is pretty much symbolic thus the the second way that one can interpret the book of Revelation that I also disagree with but it's just another method is the historical method and there are actually two ways that you can historically interpret the book of Revelation the first is the preterist view the preterist view basically sees it this way that revelation deals with church history that includes only the early church's struggle against Imperial Rome in the first century and that John used symbolic code to describe events of his day so those who interpret Revelation with the preterist view basically will say this you know John was writing in the first century and he was writing to Christians who were persecuted and so he had to use code language so that nobody outside of Christianity wouldn't know what he's talking about but what he's talking about you know the Antichrist he's really probably referring to Nero or or Domitian or somebody in the Roman Empire you know and and he's using these symbolic vague terms but it has to do with his own day that's the preterist view I don't agree with it but that is just one way that people interpret it but then there's this other historical angle to it and it's what we'll just simply call the the symbolic view and and that is a panoramic panoramic interpretation of the church's historical struggle against the world system from the first century through modern times and it predicts the future of the church age but not of endtime events in other words people would say well it is a book that looks forward but it looks forward to the time of the church age which is everything after Jesus ascended into heaven but it doesn't really predict future events it just as historical in terms of the church age so the way we're going to interpret this again you're you're free to interpret it allegorically or historically you're you know you're welcome to be wrong if you want to but but but we're gonna I say that in jest because there's a lot of great minds that are going to look at revelation very differently but we're going to be looking at it as a literal writing with futuristic or prophetic elements throughout it in other words the events beginning in Chapter four okay in Chapter four our futuristic related to the time directly preceding and including Jesus's return there is frequent symbolism all throughout the book we recognize that but events will be fulfilled in a literal way so a lot of people you know want to look at the book of Revelation and think well it's just all symbolic and and it's just you know it has you know allegorical meaning it's it should be seen as a literal book it should be understood in terms of its its literal meaning it's just sometimes difficult to dig out what is the literal meaning and I'll explain why in a little bit if you look here in chapter 1 verse 19 with me I'm just gonna we will come back and go verse by verse but I don't know how much we'll do that tonight but I do want to again just kind of lay out the foundation if you look at chapter 1 verse 19 what we have given to us is an actual outline of the entire book of Revelation in verse 19 or chapter 1 and it says this this is Jesus speaking if you have a Bible with red letters you'll notice this is Jesus speaking verse 19 right he's telling John write the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which will take place after this okay so that is an outline for the entire book of Revelation he says to John I want you to write about the things that you have seen that's that's chapter one that has to do with the appearance of Jesus he's going to see Jesus and he's going to write about the majestic appearance of our Lord that's chapter one and then Jesus says I want you to also write the things which are and John was living at a time that we call now the church age I'll explain more in a moment that's going to be chapters two and three because Jesus is going to dictate seven letters to seven different churches which we're literal Jurchen but they also represent something in terms of the timeline of the church age which we will break down when we get into chapters two and three and then also there in 119 Jesus says I want you to write about things which will take place after this so after the church age comes future things that's chapters four through the end of the book four through 22 now I'm gonna I'm gonna walk back here to the back screen because I want to actually present to you the entire timeline of the book of Revelation if you're not already overwhelmed take a look at this okay but I want to break it down I just want to walk through it with you so that you realize this is not this is not to be seen as something overly complicated so I'm gonna back it up and we're gonna go first and look just at the beginning of this timeline which has to do with Jesus's resurrection so he dies on a cross he rises from the dead and then we just read it in Acts chapter one forty days he appears on earth and then he ascends into heaven alright that's Acts one that sends into heaven the Angels comfort the Apostle saying he's coming again don't worry yeah you know don't be troubled he's gonna come again alright since Jesus rose from the dead and ascended back into heaven it now launched the church age that's going to be revelation one through three the church age is where we are right now we are living in the church age it is the time period in which the Lord has gone back into heaven he has handed if you will kind of the baton of ministry to us as believers and we are entrusted with the most sacred privilege of sharing good news of who Jesus is so that as many people as possible might come to faith in Christ and might be able to join in the hope that we have when we talk about these things related to Jesus a second coming but we're living now in the church age now on the on the timeline I've got dotted lines there because we don't know how long the church age is gonna last all we know is we're living in it now you know I don't know if the church age is gonna last another year five years a hundred years but the thing that will end the church age is the rapture of the church the Bible says that there will be a generation that never experiences death there will be a generation of believers who will be snatched from the earth and taken up to be with the Lord in the air now when we talk about the second coming of Christ everybody needs to understand this and there's a lot of confusion about the second coming of Christ so let me try to make this clear the second coming of Christ is really in two phases the first phase is when he only comes in the clouds in the air and he then sounds a trumpet call the Bible tells us and it tells us then that the dead in Christ is first the Thessalonians chapter 4 the dead in Christ will rise first now wait a minute their spirits are already in heaven but they get a glorified body that's why they're the dead rise first okay to be joined with their spirits in heaven so that now they have a glorified body just like Jesus the dead in Christ will rise first and then we who are alive and remain on earth at the time that the trumpet call sounds we'll be caught up together with them to meet the Lord in the air and so we shall be with the Lord forever how many are looking forward to that day right amen now what Paul tells us in his letter to Corinthians he says you will not all sleep in other words you will not all experience death but you will be changed in the twinkling of an eye so for those who are snatched up so let's just say that you know tonight there's this trumpet call of God alright and if you're a believer in Jesus you're gonna be physically taken up from the earth you won't experience death and you get a glorified body on the way up okay you won't go through you know nobody's gonna have a funeral for you you have to pick out a casket and be painted up you're gonna just be able to be lifted up instead of paint it up I'd rather have that right okay and so that word to be seized to be snatched in the Greek in the New Testaments are pazzo but in the Latin Vulgate which was the Latin translation of the New Testament of the Bible it's harpazo sorry it's rob juice and rob juice is where we get our english word rapture so some people say well the word rapture doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible that is true but in its Latin original language it does that's what 1st Thessalonians 4 means to be caught up to be seized to be snatched robbed juice to be raptured and so that's the end of the church age when Jesus comes again in the clouds that's part one of a second coming to take his bride that's what the church is referred to the bride out of the earth he's gonna rescue us you're gonna see my bent in terms of when the rapture occurs okay he's going to rescue us because I believe this is the preponderance of Scripture before the tribulation period so the rapture of the church is Revelation chapter 4 and 5 but what follows that is seven years of tribulation on earth so Christians have been taken and are kept safe in heaven and from the balcony I don't know how much we're gonna be able to see or how much Laura's gonna protect us from seeing it I'm not one of these people who believes you know you know our beloved you know grandpa who who knew Christ is up in heaven looking down on us now no he's not no he's not you're in the presence of Jesus that's where you're focused you're not like and Plus think about it in heaven there's no more crying no more pain no more tears if grandpa's looking down to see what's going on here grandpa's gonna be crying and so there's no more tears so I don't I don't believe that people in heaven know necessarily what's going on on earth the bride is gonna be kept safe in heaven with the Lord but let's let me tell you what's gonna be going on on earth it's Revelation chapter 6 through 18 it's going to be cataclysmic events it's going to be incredible you know meteor showers and and fresh water turning to blood a hundred pound hailstones the Bible says in Revelation it's going to be disease and boils and it's going to be all these terrible things that are happening on the earth now why in the world would a loving God allow all those things to happen here's the reason because by the time we get here to the Tribulation Period the people who have refused to trust Christ need a greater wake-up call I mean that's just the reality of it I don't know in what ways and in how many ways the Lord has gotten your attention over the course of your life but I can tell you this as a loving father he steps it up when we don't respond so the book of Revelation as much as like well this is all these disasters and death and billions of people die in the book of Revelation I'm not gonna candy-coat any of this I'm gonna give it to you straight that's what the Bible says this is what we need to be aware of a lot of people die in the book of Revelation but it is God's final attempt they don't have to die okay it's it's they're stubborn refusal to still believe in the Lord but it is God's final attempt to get people's attention so there's seven years of it when that seven year is going to start we don't know so at anytime Jesus could sound the trumpet we get caught up and then the Tribulation Period happens now by the way there's nothing in the Bible that says that as soon as the church is raptured then tribulation starts the church might get raptured in the tribulation I'll start for 20 more years I mean there's no there's no timeline that says as soon as the church is out then horrible things begin to happen on the earth horrible things happen on the earth but it doesn't say in relation to the rapture when exactly that happens but seven years of tribulation and then following that Revelation chapter 19 is Jesus second coming now this is this is part two of a second coming part one was just in the clouds to gather his bride part two his second coming is to the earth when the Lord Jesus returns to the earth and by the way he returns to the same place from which he ascended the Mount of Olives east of Jerusalem come on Sunday cuz we're in the book of zechariah zechariah talks specifically we're gonna be talking about the second coming of Christ on Sunday - because Zechariah talks about it he's very specific about the Mount of Olives as well so Jesus returns when he returns guess what he's going to bring us with him those who have been already kept safe in heaven the Saints returned with Jesus Jesus settles the big battle of Armageddon that's also revelation 19 and then what happens is Revelation chapter 20 he ushers in a thousand-year reign for a thousand years he's going to rule and reign on the earth and at the end of that time there's going to be a judgment the lake of fire Satan the false prophet the Antichrist are thrown into the lake of fire there's the great white throne judgment because everybody who lived during that thousand year millennial period they're gonna have to stand before the throne and give account of their lives - and then after that the end part of Revelation chapters 21 and 22 describe a new heaven and a new earth because the Bible says this present have in the present earth are going to be destroyed that's why I know you know I get a lot of heat I get emails when I'm just I'm not an environmentalist guy and so people like you know we ought to take it is going away it is going away if you if you're into that okay I'm just telling you it's going away and he's got a new heaven and a new earth and so let's not dfi it but anyway this is the breakdown of of the book of Revelation now a couple of cautions for you note-takers number one everything does not necessarily mean something everything does not necessarily mean something there is a tendency to want to read the book of Revelation and think that you know everything that we see in our world today is you know has to do with Revelation I remember growing up in the 80s and and people thought Ronald Reagan was the Antichrist you wonder why they thought it was the Antichrist because his name was Ronald Wilson Reagan and all three of his names were six letters and so they thought he's 666 this he's the Antichrist I'm not making this up and some of you are old enough to remember too when the little what does it call the hologram or whatever came out on our credit cards and there were Christians are like it's the mark of the beast I'm not using a credit card I'm not using it's the mark of the beast mocking a base and we can't be taking this it's like just calm down it's not the market of beasts or barcode and barcodes got on you know on retail products like it's the mark of the beast okay I mean I do remember being in Safeway once and I did get a little wigged out I have to admit because there there was a lady in front of me at the at the checkout and and she and if it came time to pay and she's fumbling through her purse and her wallet she's like I don't know what I've done with my cash and I can't find my credit cards you stand in there and she says to the cashier you know we know what'd be easy is if I just had like some kind of chip like in my hand and you can just scan it and I was like wow no you don't even know what you're saying but you know it might be coming to that at some point but we can't look at everything and think oh look at the signs of the times in which we live we need to be wise about it but we can't be foolish about and think everything has to do let me tell you something in the 1930s the church was convinced that they were living in the end times it was the book of Revelation fulfilled and they were convinced that Hitler was the Antichrist and Joseph Stalin was the false prophet and the church in the 1930s was preaching in the early 40s preaching it's okay as Panzer tanks were pulling up to churches throughout Europe it's okay the rapture is gonna come and a rapture didn't happen 10,000 pastors were killed during world war ii like dietrich bonhoeffer for refusing to bow to nazi germany 10,000 pastors and you know what happened the church became disillusioned why didn't Jesus come again why didn't he take us you know Hitler has be the Antichrist and and if it's not Joseph Stalin's Benito Mussolini he's the false prophet and and and why didn't he rescue us and people became disillusioned in their faith because they had this this preconceived notion that this must be the book of Revelation be careful we can't we can't look at everything that's happening in our world don't think that this must be it we got to be careful about this kind of thing we can't be so convinced in our minds but we're gonna get a taster then we're gonna think this we're gonna see everything to be it's not everything everything doesn't mean everything number a few years ago several years ago actually the kids were young and still living at home and I don't remember which kid was in the backseat and which kid was in the front seat with me but we were going through McDonald's praise God for McDonald's anyway we were going through McDonald's and it was like the harvest season and they had the special pumpkin milkshakes and so all I wanted was the O's a pumpkin milkshake kids didn't want anything okay I'm just gonna get it let's just go through the drive-thru real quick ordered a pumpkin milkshake paid for the pumpkin milkshake took it and I and as I'm driving away I start sipping on it this is incredible man they put out a good pumpkin milkshake and the kids are like let's try let me try let me try and it was back in the day then like I don't really care about germs as much as I do now and so you know I shared it with whoever was sitting next to me one of my other kids and they like wow this is really good this is delicious pumpkin this is wonderful and then whoever was in the back we were passing it around were family and so then in the back the whoever the kid was in the back took it and took a sip of and said guys this is chocolate no it's not it's pumpkin I tasted it and the kid next with that yeah we taste his pumpkin and that kid me died and I looked it was chocolate they'd give me the wrong one it was chocolate but in my mind I was already convinced his pumpkin its pumpkin and when we can do that when we look at the book of Revelation we're gonna look at events in our world and we're gonna go to pumpkin it's like no it's actually chocolate so we need to calm down and realize that not everything necessarily means everything these are birth pains the stuff that is happening these are birth pains the other thing we need to realize is number two and I know our times escape this I gotta be quick here I only have two more points there's John is gonna use limited language to describe distant events you know try to think if George Washington were to suddenly see a flat-screen TV or a cell phone how would he write to describe it in a day when they're there you know there wasn't plastic it wasn't electricity there wasn't you know the kind of technology like we have today what words would he use to describe a flat-screen TV turned on with images projected in it he's gonna he's going to write using his own modern terms to describe something that is futuristic and and it is so when we read revelation we have to bear that in mind John is going to be writing it looked like it sounded like you know he's gonna say I heard 27 times in the book of Revelation he's gonna say I saw 36 times he's gonna say I looked 12 times his senses are bombarded by all these visions and the sounds of all that's happening in the world and he's gonna write in his day for a century describing things that are many trees down the road so that's why it looks mystical that's why he describes things that that we look at and we read and we're like what what is this all about because he's using limited language to describe future events and the last thing the third thing that I want us to understand as we go forward to study this book together he writes with a circular view of events he writes with a circular view of events Westerners you know particularly Americans Westerners think in monochronic time in other words we are sequential people typically Westerners learn get me 1 2 3 you know just just spell it out for me so we like to interpret things mana chronically sequentially but middle-eastern people and typically Middle Easterners and even African cultures they think pali chronically they think a big picture they think circularly and so sometimes as we read the book of Revelation it's almost like John the best way I can describe it as a John is standing in a circular room ok all the doors have been shut and on an on the wall all around him are flat-screen TVs with projecting different images and he's gonna and he sometimes just so bombarded in his senses that he's just writing as he sees and all these different things happening in the room around him so a lot of Revelation is chronological but some is not it's circular he's it's like you know going into like an art gallery and standing there in the room and just looking all around you at all these different images and so he's writing differently because he's not a westerner so we have to put ourselves in an Eastern mindset as we read through the book of Revelation I think it'll help us to understand it better and not not think so sequentially as we always do the takeaway tonight ok I know that was again it's a lot of information you know next Wednesday we're gonna unpack chapter 1 but the takeaway tonight is just basically for us to understand this this is just the reality of our world the world is is bad and it's going to get worse and it's going to get even worse and it's gonna get even worse than that and then Jesus will come again and he's gonna take us home to be with him and so Jesus is Lord of all he's in charge of all and he's coming again and we need to be ready with joyful anticipation of his imminent return we'll pick it up there next week let's pray lord thank you for this time together prepare our hearts as we study Revelation and as we look at our world carefully but not in an unwise way through the lens of the book of Revelation and no matter what we see in terms of events and and the wickedness in our world and just the heaviness of of life may we always be reminded that our hope is in you that you are coming again and just as you were faithful to come the first time to die in a cross for our sins and you promise I'm going away to prepare a place for you but I'm gonna come again to receive you unto myself that where I am there you might be also may we also with great joy and anticipation be reminded of our hope in you so that no matter what happens in this world as crazy as it might get we know our eternal reward and our eternal home is with you so encourage us with these things Lord remind us not to be afraid not to get weighed down but to lift up our heads because our redemption is near we love you in Jesus name Amen and amen god bless you

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 262,427

Rating: 4.8292794 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers, in depth study of revelation, the book of revelation, In depth study of the book of revelation, When does the rapture happen, revelations explained bible, What are signs of the end of the world, How to study the book of revelation, How to study revelation, the end of the world in the bible, What’s the book of revelation about

Id: jKK6e1O6cNI

Length: 46min 46sec (2806 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 20 2020