WEBVTT 00:00:00.540 --> 00:00:01.580 Revelation 1. 00:00:01.820 --> 00:00:04.360 Anytime anyone says that, you know that we're about to get into a whole lot of crazy. 00:00:04.640 --> 00:00:11.940 When I think of Revelation in my introduction to this book, when I was like a kid... 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:12.840 Well, let me just say this. 00:00:12.840 --> 00:00:17.910 When you read Revelation, we are not familiar with this type of literary genre anymore. 00:00:18.300 --> 00:00:25.380 When I was a kid, this Book of Revelation was one that people would use as a tool to scare the life out 00:00:25.380 --> 00:00:25.620 of you. 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:32.460 I can remember as a kid, I wasn't a Christian, but I would go to these youth events that these local churches would put on. 00:00:32.479 --> 00:00:38.960 They would rent out a gymnasium all night long or something like this YMCA and rent that all night long and let you just go crazy as kids. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:46.000 I was a crazy kid, so I'm like, "Sure, I don't care who it's with, as long as I can go crazy all night long, I'm there." A part of that, they would always bring 00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:53.080 us to this room and share this gospel message, where all it really was is they would show this video of some guy dying some horrible death and be like, "You don't want to be like 00:00:53.080 --> 00:00:53.540 him, huh? 00:00:53.760 --> 00:00:54.610 Here's a verse from Revelation. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:01.690 You need Jesus." That was my introduction to the Book of Revelation, a whole lot of crazy and scaring the life out of you. 00:01:02.060 --> 00:01:05.720 When the world ends, the theme was, you don't want to be left behind. 00:01:06.620 --> 00:01:13.740 I will say, one of our goals this morning is to make sure no one is left behind, but we're not going to talk about it in the sense that maybe 00:01:13.740 --> 00:01:16.040 we're used to hearing that phrase used. 00:01:17.620 --> 00:01:22.040 But when we get to the Book of Revelation, I think it is important to start off in chapter one. 00:01:22.180 --> 00:01:26.940 I'm just going to give us a summary of this book today of understanding why it is here. 00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:33.000 The reason we're going to end with this book is, one, we're going to have a series together on the theme of Scripture. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:37.540 We want to see the grand theme of God's story being told throughout all the Bible. 00:01:38.100 --> 00:01:45.340 We have the beautiful joy of seeing a book of literature, 66 manuscripts put together telling one 00:01:45.340 --> 00:01:47.540 massive theme that God has told throughout history. 00:01:47.900 --> 00:01:55.280 It is incredible how the Lord unfolds this for us, and it works together in one grand idea over a 00:01:55.580 --> 00:01:59.860 huge time span that we have opportunity to see how God has revealed himself. 00:02:00.000 --> 00:02:00.490 A beautiful story. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:04.970 If we weren't to end with Revelation, we would be a mist of how that story all ties together. 00:02:05.620 --> 00:02:13.100 Second is, because this book is so unique, if you ever dive into it and want to understand it helps to have a little bit of 00:02:13.100 --> 00:02:16.760 encouragement jumping into it, because a lot of times you'll read this and be like, "What just happened? 00:02:16.820 --> 00:02:18.240 What is this? 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:27.020 This is weird, sometimes scary, I don't understand it, what's going on?" When you dive in the Book of Revelation 1:1, John 00:02:27.020 --> 00:02:32.040 lays out for us this picture of understanding of exactly what this book is. 00:02:32.520 --> 00:02:39.800 Revelation 1:1, it says this, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bond-servants 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:46.960 the things which must soon take place, and he sent and communicated it by his angel to his bond-servant John." Let 00:02:46.960 --> 00:02:54.040 me just end right there and say this before we get a little further, that the title that John gives in this book or we get the book 00:02:54.040 --> 00:02:54.480 is Revelation. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:03:01.460 The first thing that you can do to show that you have a familiarity with this book is to call it Revelation with no S. 00:03:01.460 --> 00:03:07.620 This is not Revelations, this is one Revelation, and that Revelation is of Jesus, from Jesus, to us. 00:03:08.200 --> 00:03:10.040 This is the Book of Revelation. 00:03:10.040 --> 00:03:12.790 This word in Greek literally means apocalypse. 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:15.710 That's where we get this idea of apocalyptic literature. 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:22.690 What that really means is it's this symbolic language that communicates to us a truth. 00:03:22.880 --> 00:03:30.840 John will cast these ideas of these certain visions or this beautiful poetic language that 00:03:30.840 --> 00:03:34.800 figuratively represents something specific. 00:03:35.040 --> 00:03:42.280 This apocalyptic literature, and by definition, what it means this word apocalypse or revelation, means it's 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:43.140 this unveiling. 00:03:45.220 --> 00:03:52.540 What God is doing is he's peeling back this heavenly picture to reveal to us the goodness of Jesus in 00:03:52.540 --> 00:03:53.750 life circumstances. 00:03:53.980 --> 00:03:56.040 I'm going to tell you why he does that in a minute. 00:03:56.860 --> 00:04:04.260 But he tells us, this is a revelation, an unveiling, and then he gives us this thought that it must soon 00:04:04.260 --> 00:04:05.060 take place. 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:12.140 That phrase is important for us because it provides an interpretive help to understanding this book. 00:04:13.500 --> 00:04:20.779 When I've heard people talk about this Book of Revelation, oftentimes what I've found is that this book has become 00:04:20.779 --> 00:04:27.500 hijacked by paranoid political doomsday conspiracy theory type people. 00:04:29.020 --> 00:04:36.020 No doubt, there is some political element to it when it talks about world leaders, but I don't think that that's God's primary intention to 00:04:36.020 --> 00:04:36.440 this book. 00:04:36.500 --> 00:04:43.080 God's primary intention isn't for you to get your predictions out and your charts all ready and a map out for everyone exactly what's happening. 00:04:43.080 --> 00:04:48.140 I mean, that could be a piece to understanding Revelation, but that is not God's primary point to this book. 00:04:48.640 --> 00:04:51.150 What He says us is that it must soon take place. 00:04:51.440 --> 00:04:58.820 Another thought I would throw there is that people will read this book, or in our time setting today, we'll read this book, and you get to the end, you see these different world 00:04:58.820 --> 00:05:00.840 powers or leaders talked about. 00:05:00.840 --> 00:05:04.090 Then people will say this, they'll be like, "But there's no America. 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:11.780 Oh, my word, what happens to America?" There's this panic that this regulatory book, when it appeals back, doesn't 00:05:11.900 --> 00:05:13.600 talk about America. 00:05:13.600 --> 00:05:15.080 I will just say this. 00:05:15.700 --> 00:05:20.320 America is not mentioned because the first century people did not care. 00:05:22.080 --> 00:05:22.860 There is no America. 00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:28.960 I mean, what John is saying in this chapter is this must soon take place. 00:05:29.720 --> 00:05:35.440 What John has given us is this interpretive idea to the Book of Revelation, really, that transcends throughout all of Scripture. 00:05:36.580 --> 00:05:43.660 What I mean by this, that when God writes a book of the Bible through His authors, it means something 00:05:43.840 --> 00:05:47.660 to the people there and then before it means something to us here and now. 00:05:48.880 --> 00:05:55.880 If you don't take the time to understand what it meant to the people there and then, you'll make tremendous error in understanding what it 00:05:55.880 --> 00:05:57.140 means to us here and now. 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:05.120 The reason, when you read Revelation, America is not talked about, maybe America does or doesn't exist, who knows, it's not in Revelation, but the reason 00:06:05.120 --> 00:06:08.340 it's not in Revelation is because, in the first century, no one cared about America. 00:06:09.360 --> 00:06:10.010 There was no America. 00:06:11.080 --> 00:06:18.060 They have a lot more going on that they're worried about than what exactly is going to happen in this century for people in America. 00:06:18.500 --> 00:06:19.600 That's not even on their radar. 00:06:21.280 --> 00:06:28.540 When you read this book, just know the reason America is not talked about is because, for the first century, people 00:06:28.540 --> 00:06:36.100 going through this book, God is writing something for them there and then before we get to the here and now. 00:06:36.440 --> 00:06:44.180 It will pay huge dividends when you read a book like Revelation or any other book that might have some apocalyptic 00:06:44.180 --> 00:06:51.700 reading to it that's prophetic, especially in the Old Testament, if you take time to understand the images that are communicated 00:06:51.700 --> 00:06:53.290 rather than jump to application. 00:06:54.620 --> 00:07:01.920 What I mean by that is, if you were to read through this book, I've heard people do this, where, multiple times I've heard people do this, they'll jump to like Revelation 00:07:01.920 --> 00:07:09.060 chapter nine, where it talks about grasshoppers or locusts with the face of a man, 00:07:10.180 --> 00:07:12.680 and they'll immediately jump to the conclusion that those are helicopters. 00:07:13.720 --> 00:07:16.200 It's like, well, maybe, I guess. 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:20.260 But in the first century, no one knew what a helicopter was. 00:07:21.140 --> 00:07:28.460 But rather, if you just take time to look at the symbolic language that John is using, well, the locusts or the grasshopper was 00:07:28.460 --> 00:07:31.040 a symbol into the Old Testament, like the Book of Amos. 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:37.480 It was symbolic of a plague that took place, where these locusts come through and they eat up all the land. 00:07:39.200 --> 00:07:42.690 To the Jew, that image has a purpose, it has a meaning. 00:07:42.840 --> 00:07:47.820 It's not rooted in some future picture they have no idea what he's talking about, to the Jew, it meant something in the past. 00:07:47.820 --> 00:07:54.900 When John's using that language, they can correctly connect it to something they had already experienced as to relate to what John is trying to explain in that moment. 00:07:55.860 --> 00:08:02.880 It's way more profitable to understand the symbolism to Jewish history than it is to just make the application in our 00:08:02.880 --> 00:08:04.180 terminology to today. 00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:05.570 Here's another one. 00:08:07.400 --> 00:08:13.960 Revelation 14:1-9, it talks about the mark of the beast, a mark on your forehead and on your wrists. 00:08:13.960 --> 00:08:21.020 Then people started flipping out in the last couple of decades as computers got more popular, talking about computer chips and the devil controlling 00:08:21.020 --> 00:08:21.680 those things. 00:08:21.940 --> 00:08:26.410 Maybe, maybe he will, but I don't think that that's what Revelation is talking about. 00:08:26.820 --> 00:08:33.900 There could be a tangible means by which the devil uses, but I think what it's saying is, it's identifying for us what 00:08:33.900 --> 00:08:34.600 controls us. 00:08:35.460 --> 00:08:42.460 Because it talks about, in Revelation 14:1, it talks about the mark of God on us, in chapter 13 the same thing, that God's name 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:43.419 could be written on our foreheads. 00:08:44.080 --> 00:08:51.100 What it's actually referring to, for the Jewish people, is this idea of phylacteries, when the Jews were told to bind God's Word on the wrist and 00:08:51.100 --> 00:08:51.790 on their foreheads. 00:08:52.680 --> 00:08:53.860 Jews literally did that. 00:08:55.600 --> 00:09:02.640 What it's identifying for us is who owns you, who controls you, who is your life given 00:09:02.640 --> 00:09:03.000 towards? 00:09:04.060 --> 00:09:11.060 When you read the Book of Revelation, you see this played out between these two different worlds at war, the kingdom of satan or the kingdom 00:09:11.060 --> 00:09:14.600 of God, the city of satan or the city of God. 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:23.000 When it talks about the mark of the beast, it's not so you get all paranoid about computer chips, it's just simply saying what 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:25.160 has control of your life. 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:33.740 That's why I say, when we look at these interpretive pictures of Revelation, it's important just to understand what 00:09:33.740 --> 00:09:41.560 it's communicating from a Jewish context before we jump to the application, because it can lead to all sorts of paranoia 00:09:41.560 --> 00:09:45.240 over things God never intended for us to get from this book. 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:49.850 John's saying us, this must soon take place. 00:09:50.040 --> 00:09:52.820 He's given this idea that this is relevant for the people in the first century. 00:09:52.940 --> 00:09:56.440 This isn't just 21st century, this is relevant to where the people are today. 00:09:56.800 --> 00:10:03.960 He says, "He sent and communicated by an angel to His bond-servant John, whom testified the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:05.660 even to all that He saw. 00:10:06.180 --> 00:10:13.260 Blesses he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heeds the things which are written in it, for 00:10:13.260 --> 00:10:14.740 this time is near. 00:10:14.880 --> 00:10:21.960 John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are 00:10:21.960 --> 00:10:23.480 before His throne." Let me just say this so I don't forget. 00:10:24.220 --> 00:10:25.740 The seven Spirits is the Holy Spirit. 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:34.460 Isaiah chapter 11:2, there's the Spirit of God's described there, and there's this seven-fold ministry described as what the Spirit will have 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:35.340 in this world. 00:10:35.800 --> 00:10:38.520 John is referring to the Spirit as the seven Spirits. 00:10:38.720 --> 00:10:41.060 Seven, in Revelation, is also a number of completeness. 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:44.610 But he's identifying the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of people here. 00:10:45.400 --> 00:10:52.220 When you look at this, John, in these next few verses, also gives us some interpretive understanding as to how to read this book. 00:10:52.660 --> 00:10:59.680 When you read the Bible, a type of literary genre that you're engaging in matters, because it tells you how you apply interpretive principles to 00:10:59.680 --> 00:11:00.980 passages of Scripture. 00:11:01.660 --> 00:11:05.780 It's different in how you interpret a parable versus how you interpret a letter. 00:11:06.440 --> 00:11:13.580 It's different in how you interpret Revelation or apocalyptic literature in terms of how you might interpret a 00:11:13.580 --> 00:11:14.400 letter or a gospel. 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:18.560 But he also further says, in verse three, that this is a prophecy. 00:11:19.760 --> 00:11:21.420 Not only is apocalyptic, it's prophetic. 00:11:22.200 --> 00:11:25.830 Then he says it's written to us, meaning it is a letter. 00:11:27.280 --> 00:11:33.140 John's encouragement for us as we consider this is that we heed the things that are in it. 00:11:34.680 --> 00:11:38.400 Meaning, God doesn't want you to look at this and be intimidated by it and simply run away from it. 00:11:40.120 --> 00:11:43.520 But John is writing this for the church to be encouraged. 00:11:45.360 --> 00:11:50.380 What his desire is for the body of believers is to heed the things that are written in it. 00:11:50.860 --> 00:11:53.780 I think it is completely okay to acknowledge when a book is hard. 00:11:54.800 --> 00:11:56.420 Revelation is not easy. 00:11:57.560 --> 00:12:02.500 A lot of what John writes is tied massively in Old Testament prophecy. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:10.760 If you just pick up this book and start reading through it without an understanding of some prophetic books of the Old Testament, it makes this book so much harder. 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:17.880 Even Peter said of the Apostle Paul in 2 Peter 3:15-16 that Paul's writings are hard to understand. 00:12:19.500 --> 00:12:25.030 Even Daniel, who, a lot of what Daniel says is borrowed tremendously in the Book of Revelation. 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:28.660 Daniel says multiple times in the Book of Daniel, "I don't understand. 00:12:29.020 --> 00:12:29.670 I don't understand. 00:12:29.960 --> 00:12:32.320 I don't understand." God explains things to him. 00:12:32.540 --> 00:12:39.840 Even chapter 12, when you get to the end of Daniel, in verse eight, Daniel says, again, at the end of the book, "I still understand." I 00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:47.500 think it's completely okay to acknowledge when things are hard, but, at the same time, don't give up, because 00:12:47.500 --> 00:12:48.960 this book is beautiful. 00:12:49.540 --> 00:12:50.900 Here's an incredible thought. 00:12:51.700 --> 00:12:58.800 Out of all the theological topics that are discussed in Scripture, some theologians say the Second Coming of Christ is the 00:12:58.800 --> 00:13:00.900 most talked about doctrine in the Bible. 00:13:02.920 --> 00:13:05.580 This is huge for God's people. 00:13:07.680 --> 00:13:15.260 Why you study this Book of Revelation, what I think is also important to know is to 00:13:15.260 --> 00:13:19.910 not be so dogmatic as to where you land here. 00:13:21.080 --> 00:13:28.820 The reason I say is, sometimes we like to read this book for the entire purpose of playing out our predictions in charts and maps and exactly 00:13:28.820 --> 00:13:30.640 what we think about this book. 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:32.940 But let me just say this. 00:13:34.380 --> 00:13:36.320 No one got Jesus's First Coming right. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:43.600 I don't want to be so arrogant as to propagate that I have every detail of Jesus's Second Coming correctly. 00:13:45.040 --> 00:13:50.280 When you read the Gospels and you see Jesus, over and over again, he prophetically declared exactly how he's going to come, when he's going to leave. 00:13:50.280 --> 00:13:54.940 I mean, Jesus even gave the date of his birth and people still miss them. 00:13:56.940 --> 00:14:04.020 When it comes to the First Coming of Christ, if they missed the First Coming of Christ, I'm not going to be so arrogant as to say, "This is how every detail goes in 00:14:04.020 --> 00:14:05.770 the Second Coming." Look, I have my stand. 00:14:06.040 --> 00:14:11.700 I grew up traditionally in a pre-millennial preacher relational teaching. 00:14:13.420 --> 00:14:16.560 I think it's important to study Revelation to look at these things. 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:25.440 But I don't want to sit here and say, "Look, when it comes to the deity of Jesus, that's a 10." On a hill 00:14:25.440 --> 00:14:26.900 to die on, make that a 10 in your life. 00:14:27.680 --> 00:14:32.430 When it comes to predicting exactly how a Second Coming is going to go, make that more like a two. 00:14:33.580 --> 00:14:36.580 Definitely study this, definitely, definitely. 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:41.700 Look, I mean, the Bible makes a big deal about this, and we should look forward to the Second Coming of Jesus. 00:14:43.420 --> 00:14:50.600 But when it comes to the idea of belittling other Christians because they might have a different view than you, I 00:14:50.600 --> 00:14:54.760 remember one time I was at Liberty University and listening Tim LaHaye give a speech. 00:14:54.860 --> 00:14:56.140 Tim LaHaye wrote the Left Behind series. 00:14:57.140 --> 00:15:02.300 Tim LaHaye is giving a speech of which he dedicated lot of money to Liberty University off of those books. 00:15:03.760 --> 00:15:05.830 He helped build this student center. 00:15:06.220 --> 00:15:13.900 During the speech, he said, "You write these books, there's a lot of success, a lot of people like the books." But he says, in the speech, "This is a silly issue to divide over as Christians." 00:15:13.980 --> 00:15:19.560 I'm sitting here thinking, "Man, the guy that wrote these books that Christians are reading during this time period, is saying this. 00:15:19.840 --> 00:15:23.400 I think that there's some important things to draw out from that. 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:31.000 But I think, let me just say this and I want to move on, I would far rather see a church hungry to know God's Word and 00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:37.840 understand the Old Testament pictures that are illustrating Revelation more than just simply laying out charts. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:42.520 Because if all you're interested in is laying out charts without understanding those things, it tells me you don't understand what Revelation is talking about anyway. 00:15:43.440 --> 00:15:44.800 What credence does that hold? 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:53.760 When it comes to the idea of Revelation, taking time to just move through these images and appreciate 00:15:53.780 --> 00:15:57.390 what John is communicating is what the beauty of this book upholds. 00:15:58.220 --> 00:16:02.540 He says at the end of this, he's writing this to the seven churches. 00:16:02.560 --> 00:16:03.960 Now, let me just ask you this, why seven? 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.540 Why these churches? 00:16:06.540 --> 00:16:13.700 If you read beyond this and you see the churches that he's talking about, and you think about the New Testament and the churches that the Book of Revelation is written to, some 00:16:13.700 --> 00:16:16.020 of these churches, this is the only time you'll ever hear about them. 00:16:17.140 --> 00:16:17.630 Why the seven? 00:16:17.740 --> 00:16:19.620 They're not even the popular ones or the cool ones, man. 00:16:19.800 --> 00:16:20.560 Some of them are. 00:16:20.760 --> 00:16:21.720 But why these seven? 00:16:22.060 --> 00:16:29.200 Well, if you ever look on a map where John is on the island of Patmos, I could have provided this for you, but on the island of Patmos, these churches 00:16:29.200 --> 00:16:31.380 make a circle around where John's at. 00:16:32.520 --> 00:16:35.860 Rather than have eight, nine, 10 churches, he chooses seven. 00:16:35.880 --> 00:16:38.550 I think he chooses seven because seven is a number of completeness. 00:16:39.060 --> 00:16:45.960 Now, some people come to these churches and they say, "Well, it shows church ages." Throughout the ages, this is how different churches have responded to the Lord. 00:16:46.440 --> 00:16:50.900 They try to fit into history the ages of churches in the way that they've responded. 00:16:51.520 --> 00:16:52.850 I reject that. 00:16:52.920 --> 00:16:57.660 I think that some people can figure that out and like to do that, I don't think that's what it is. 00:16:57.680 --> 00:16:59.080 I don't think John means to make it that complicated. 00:16:59.940 --> 00:17:06.940 The reason I say that is because, a lot of times, I see people say, "Well, it's talking about seven church ages." They always get to the seventh church age and 00:17:07.040 --> 00:17:08.349 pretend like they're in that age. 00:17:08.480 --> 00:17:11.079 It's like this and the seventh age is our age, where we are now. 00:17:11.660 --> 00:17:15.160 Then, all of a sudden, a couple of more hundred years pass and they're like, "Oh, we're out of that age. 00:17:15.599 --> 00:17:18.760 Okay, let's redo our timeline." Here's what I think John's doing. 00:17:18.839 --> 00:17:25.920 He's saying, "Look, when you think about God's people, here's the typical way churches 00:17:25.920 --> 00:17:31.080 respond." Seven churches cover the dynamic of how God's people might respond. 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:36.960 What's unique when you read about these churches, out of the seven, only two of them are praised. 00:17:38.440 --> 00:17:42.320 The two that John lifts up are the ones that are going through persecution. 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:50.500 When you go in a little bit further, John starts to share with us a little more as to why he's writing this book. 00:17:50.500 --> 00:17:57.980 He says, "I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:05.040 on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." What John is acknowledging for 00:18:05.040 --> 00:18:09.030 the people when he's writing this book is that he's going through a hard time just like them. 00:18:10.820 --> 00:18:12.150 You know what happens when you go through adversity? 00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:17.620 You want to rest your security in God. 00:18:17.700 --> 00:18:23.380 When you see your friends losing their lives, like John has, you really want to know your hope in Jesus is secure. 00:18:25.240 --> 00:18:26.360 That's what the Book of Revelation is. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:35.560 John is writing to the believers that are going through difficulty, and he saying, "Stay true because you win." 00:18:36.940 --> 00:18:38.800 The reason you win is because Jesus wins. 00:18:40.140 --> 00:18:43.960 Let me peel back the picture from a heavenly perspective and show this to you. 00:18:44.920 --> 00:18:46.980 What Revelation is, it's a worship book. 00:18:48.740 --> 00:18:54.600 It's a worship book for God's people in the midst of adversity to see the goodness of their God and how they are victorious in him. 00:18:55.460 --> 00:18:56.720 That's the point of this book. 00:18:57.960 --> 00:19:03.120 John is writing this to a persecuted church in the period of tribulation. 00:19:03.460 --> 00:19:10.620 One of the other reasons I highlighted this is because I want to be sensitive to the idea of what tribulation 00:19:10.620 --> 00:19:12.170 represents to God's people. 00:19:13.180 --> 00:19:20.140 Because if you've grown up in a certain theological circles and they come to Revelation or doubt, you might have heard, they talk about this tribulation period. 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:29.350 Talking about this tribulation period might even say to you that God's people will not be a part of the tribulation. 00:19:30.060 --> 00:19:31.960 I just want to be careful with terminology here. 00:19:33.600 --> 00:19:40.220 Because what Jesus definitely declared to his people is that we will go through tribulation. 00:19:40.400 --> 00:19:41.240 John 16:33. 00:19:42.600 --> 00:19:43.600 All of us will have tribulation. 00:19:43.980 --> 00:19:47.980 John, in the story, is saying, he is going through tribulation. 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:52.920 If you follow Jesus, sometimes there is a price to pay. 00:19:53.860 --> 00:20:01.200 When I think about brothers and sisters around the world that follow after Christ, Christians today are still losing their lives by the thousands, 00:20:01.340 --> 00:20:03.200 tens of thousands, every year. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:04.140 They are going through tribulation. 00:20:04.720 --> 00:20:05.180 What do they need? 00:20:07.220 --> 00:20:09.130 They need the hope that's secure in Jesus. 00:20:09.380 --> 00:20:16.400 Now, no doubt, when I think about the Book of Revelation, what the Bible makes amply clear, and I just want to point this 00:20:16.400 --> 00:20:16.880 out to you. 00:20:16.900 --> 00:20:23.940 In Revelation 6:15, let me read both of these verses, 15 and 00:20:23.940 --> 00:20:24.400 16. 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:27.440 God said something important here that I think is helpful for us. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:34.440 It says, "Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the 00:20:34.440 --> 00:20:35.520 rocks of the mountains. 00:20:35.880 --> 00:20:43.000 They said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us, hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne," and that's talking about the Lord, "And from the wrath 00:20:43.000 --> 00:20:49.250 of the lamb." The lamb here is certainly Jesus who was the lamp that took away the sins of the world. 00:20:49.420 --> 00:20:52.060 What the people here are saying is hide us from the wrath of lamb. 00:20:52.980 --> 00:20:56.660 What he's talking about is bringing the wrath of lamb on the unbelieving world. 00:20:56.740 --> 00:20:58.040 God's wrath is finally coming. 00:20:59.740 --> 00:21:05.520 When you think in terms of Revelation, what I think is important for God's people to know is that God's wrath will not be poured out on His church. 00:21:06.800 --> 00:21:11.730 The reason I can confidently say that is because the church is Jesus's bride and Jesus is not going to beat up on his bride. 00:21:13.800 --> 00:21:21.300 When you think about Revelation in terms of tribulation, I think it's important to acknowledge, look, we're not escaping tribulation as people, 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:25.320 because in following Jesus, the Bible promises we will go through tribulation. 00:21:25.320 --> 00:21:32.380 The reason I want to say that is because I don't want to undermine what my other brothers and sisters in Christ are experiencing 00:21:32.380 --> 00:21:32.900 around this world. 00:21:35.580 --> 00:21:36.720 Their faith in Jesus matters. 00:21:39.000 --> 00:21:40.440 There is tribulation that we will go through. 00:21:42.420 --> 00:21:44.780 But one day, Jesus will return. 00:21:46.740 --> 00:21:49.870 Jesus will bring his wrath against unjustice. 00:21:51.340 --> 00:21:53.450 That will not be brought against God's bride. 00:21:55.140 --> 00:21:57.580 Because we are his bride, and Jesus doesn't beat up his bride. 00:21:58.820 --> 00:22:05.880 What I find very intriguing in this section of the scripture is that the unbelieving world recognizes who was bringing 00:22:05.880 --> 00:22:06.620 this wrath. 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:13.620 Rather than repent, even to the end of their life, rather than turn to Jesus, what do they say? 00:22:14.500 --> 00:22:15.400 Just let the rocks fall on us. 00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:19.460 They'll rather have rocks falling and then turn to God. 00:22:20.980 --> 00:22:23.840 Then when we think about the wrath of God, sometimes we have a hard time with that. 00:22:24.020 --> 00:22:27.100 Especially in our western world, we want grandpa loving Jesus. 00:22:27.140 --> 00:22:31.260 We want grandpa God who just loves us and He's all about love and He just looks at you and say, "Aren't you so cutesy? 00:22:32.280 --> 00:22:33.900 Oh, [inaudible 00:22:33]. 00:22:34.080 --> 00:22:36.500 Oh, loving God." But I like to remind us. 00:22:36.500 --> 00:22:43.820 When we talk about the wrath of God, that if God has no justice, then 00:22:43.820 --> 00:22:46.540 His love is simply flattery and it's no good for you. 00:22:48.460 --> 00:22:54.800 What makes His love so incredible and so powerful is that He has the ability to execute His justice in order for you to experience that love. 00:22:56.160 --> 00:22:59.620 What good is love if someone just says, "I love you," and simply does nothing for you? 00:23:01.060 --> 00:23:06.640 But the fact that God has justice declares to us that His love, as he promises, it can be executed. 00:23:08.320 --> 00:23:11.840 His wrath, if you're on the right side of His wrath, is a very comforting thing. 00:23:11.940 --> 00:23:18.140 In fact, I've said this to us before that I have a friend that experienced tremendous persecution. 00:23:18.140 --> 00:23:19.450 He was from the west side of Africa. 00:23:20.600 --> 00:23:28.020 During a certain time period in the early '90s, his area of the world was persecuted 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:33.260 for being Christian to the point where people came into their villages and cut off the arms and legs of people. 00:23:33.820 --> 00:23:35.380 If you're a Christian, they cut your arms and legs off. 00:23:36.460 --> 00:23:39.430 A lot of them survived that way or are even alive today. 00:23:39.580 --> 00:23:40.500 You can still look this up. 00:23:41.200 --> 00:23:42.150 Cut their arms and legs off. 00:23:42.160 --> 00:23:48.060 In his particular village, he had these men come into his town and into his house. 00:23:48.300 --> 00:23:49.980 His mother hid him up in the rafters. 00:23:50.540 --> 00:23:56.130 He saw these men come in, and his mom and sisters were home, and from the rafters, he managed to live. 00:23:56.600 --> 00:23:57.370 This is how I know the story. 00:23:57.800 --> 00:23:58.480 He managed to live. 00:23:58.780 --> 00:24:04.160 But from the rafters, as he's hiding, he watches as these men rape his mom and his sisters and then killed them. 00:24:05.560 --> 00:24:12.030 Then he runs to the coast and ends up meeting a missionary, and jumps on the ship, comes to America as a refugee and is in Bible college with me. 00:24:13.400 --> 00:24:20.620 The only way you can make sense of a world like that is the justice of 00:24:20.700 --> 00:24:21.690 God poured out. 00:24:24.420 --> 00:24:26.940 His love demonstrated in His justice. 00:24:28.600 --> 00:24:31.320 God's justice is a loving thing. 00:24:33.100 --> 00:24:40.180 In our western world, sometimes the sanitation of our lives, we don't have time or take much time 00:24:40.180 --> 00:24:40.880 to think about that. 00:24:43.280 --> 00:24:49.550 But the Christians in Revelation, who are losing their lives because of their faith, they're saying to themselves, "What is this worth? 00:24:50.740 --> 00:24:58.040 What is this worth?" John's reminder to them in the midst of this tribulation is that the justice of God is coming, 00:24:58.160 --> 00:24:59.270 stay true to Jesus. 00:25:01.520 --> 00:25:05.540 When you look to Revelation chapter 17, I'm going to just show these two aspects for us. 00:25:05.560 --> 00:25:10.060 Revelation 17 and Revelation 21 is all I'm going to hit on and be done for the day. 00:25:10.060 --> 00:25:10.820 I want to do this very quickly. 00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:14.060 But it shows us, really, the Tale of Two Cities. 00:25:14.060 --> 00:25:21.370 There's one leader in one aspect that's contrary to everything that Jesus is, and then there's Christ himself that ends the Book of Revelation. 00:25:21.540 --> 00:25:27.360 In Revelation 17:1, "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me. 00:25:27.380 --> 00:25:29.300 These seven were of judgment. 00:25:29.460 --> 00:25:34.440 John's saying, "This angel come and spoke to me saying," and this is an interesting statement if I just would end here. 00:25:34.460 --> 00:25:41.620 It says, "Come here, and I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters." Sometimes 00:25:41.620 --> 00:25:47.060 when I read these passages, I said to you interpretive, you've got to understand what it means there and then before the here and now. 00:25:47.160 --> 00:25:54.480 I just picture myself as John in this verse, and an angel comes to me and says, "Everybody, gather on the bus, we're all going to go look at the greatest harlots 00:25:54.500 --> 00:26:01.290 to ever live." How many people are like, "Yeah, I don't know, I got a mum and a wife, I feel like I need some permission. 00:26:02.370 --> 00:26:03.640 I don't know, this probably is not a good... 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:04.380 I'll sit this one out. 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:11.420 You guys tell me." My mom was like, "this is not a good idea." But John jumps on, it says in this verse, and verse two, it says, "With 00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:18.480 whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of 00:26:18.500 --> 00:26:19.360 her immorality. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:26.680 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven 00:26:26.680 --> 00:26:34.140 heads and ten horns." Verse four, "The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, and having in her hand a 00:26:34.140 --> 00:26:38.510 golden cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. 00:26:39.000 --> 00:26:46.020 And on her forehead, a name was written, a mystery, "Babylon the great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of 00:26:46.020 --> 00:26:48.300 the earth." I'd read verse four in a minute. 00:26:49.420 --> 00:26:50.840 Beautiful picture. 00:26:51.020 --> 00:26:58.080 You think about this, you go, you leave this week and you talk to your friends about whether or not they want to come to ABC, see what you guys talk about at your 00:26:58.080 --> 00:26:58.380 church. 00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:01.780 The greatest prostitute ever, a typical Sunday. 00:27:02.130 --> 00:27:05.400 I don't know if that'll work or not, but this is where we are today. 00:27:06.420 --> 00:27:10.760 It starts to paint this picture of what she represents. 00:27:10.860 --> 00:27:17.040 By the way, if you read the rest of this chapter, you'll see that this angel interprets this vision for John. 00:27:17.060 --> 00:27:21.700 He tells exactly how this plays out and what these things represent. 00:27:21.700 --> 00:27:24.460 For sure, it's definitely not boring. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:26.700 The story is not boring. 00:27:28.080 --> 00:27:35.420 But this harlot on this beast represents something significant, which is a kingdom that's contrary to the 00:27:35.420 --> 00:27:35.780 Lord. 00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:44.120 It tells us that this is Babylon, and that this idea of this picture of Babylon is ruling over the kingdoms of this 00:27:44.120 --> 00:27:45.170 world. 00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:53.040 On this lady's name is written what this image is, and that the kingdoms of this world are intoxicated 00:27:53.040 --> 00:27:53.540 by her. 00:27:53.580 --> 00:27:56.660 That's like where they get their fix as their drug of choice. 00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:05.140 The reason it uses this idea of prostitution is not because this passage is simply stuck 00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:08.340 on the idea of sexual morality or sex. 00:28:08.360 --> 00:28:15.560 What it's saying is, "Sin, at its core, is immorality." Sin is giving 00:28:15.560 --> 00:28:19.340 to something else what should have been given to God. 00:28:21.140 --> 00:28:28.200 This is what it's saying about the kingdoms of this world are intoxicated by her, they're mesmerized by this. 00:28:28.540 --> 00:28:36.260 Rather than give the glory to God for which they were created to do and to belong to, they give glory to this woman. 00:28:36.500 --> 00:28:40.320 In verse four, it really gives the appeal as to how they've been captivated here. 00:28:40.340 --> 00:28:41.410 It says that she is attractive. 00:28:41.630 --> 00:28:48.410 She's laid in this purple and gold and pearls, how appealing she is to the people. 00:28:48.600 --> 00:28:53.950 In fact, so much so that when you get to verse six, it tells us that John gives her admiration. 00:28:55.040 --> 00:29:00.820 The angel goes on and says, "John, what are you doing?" John reads right through this moment in verse three. 00:29:01.040 --> 00:29:05.020 He says, he sees this woman, blasphemous names written all over. 00:29:06.260 --> 00:29:07.520 John sees it for what it is. 00:29:07.520 --> 00:29:15.240 By the time he gets to verse six, John is even captivated by the immorality and the display of what this woman brings 00:29:15.240 --> 00:29:16.380 in her attractiveness. 00:29:16.880 --> 00:29:25.140 Now, I don't think this is a literal woman, but it's giving this idea that it's the rulers 00:29:25.140 --> 00:29:29.740 of this world, and when the rulers of this world goes, so go the people beneath them. 00:29:32.320 --> 00:29:36.160 What it's identifying for is sin is fun for a season. 00:29:37.000 --> 00:29:40.460 In fact, some people say, if you don't think sin is fun for a season, you're doing it wrong. 00:29:42.020 --> 00:29:45.640 But on the back end of this, there's also hell to pay. 00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:55.600 For this lady, by her image, what we learn is that, seduction, not 00:29:55.600 --> 00:29:59.980 persecution, but seduction, is what leads God's people... 00:30:00.360 --> 00:30:02.760 or leads people, I should say, to abandon Jesus. 00:30:06.380 --> 00:30:13.660 What's really ironic and sad about this story is, when it describes this woman laid in gold and precious stones and pearls, 00:30:14.440 --> 00:30:20.430 Revelation goes on and describes heaven in chapter 21:18-21 the same way. 00:30:20.900 --> 00:30:24.860 It's not just laid in it, the entire foundation is built out of it. 00:30:25.560 --> 00:30:32.540 It's as if to say, we take the cheap way out, the quick fix, the immediate gratification, for the greater glory that is to come. 00:30:32.820 --> 00:30:32.920 Why? 00:30:33.280 --> 00:30:33.540 Why? 00:30:34.760 --> 00:30:35.780 Why would we do that? 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.820 If you read in chapter 16, one of the things that you find out about this lady is, ironically, she's even religious. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:50.610 You read these themes in the Book of Revelation where it talks about the Antichrist. 00:30:52.300 --> 00:30:59.880 It talks about this idea of this leader who was and who isn't more and who is the come, like he's going to be resurrected like Jesus. 00:31:00.840 --> 00:31:01.980 There's even the false prophet. 00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:11.140 You see this religious worldview taught that's counterintuitive to God, and what it is, it 00:31:11.140 --> 00:31:17.360 creates this entire system that's really focused on man and what he wants and not giving glory to God. 00:31:19.520 --> 00:31:28.500 This person on the back of the beast is, he tells us, drunk with the blood of 00:31:28.540 --> 00:31:28.880 the saints. 00:31:31.560 --> 00:31:38.660 You think about the idea of this harlot leading this religious movement over 00:31:38.660 --> 00:31:45.760 all the kingdoms of the world, I think people do that today, and we've 00:31:45.760 --> 00:31:51.110 been doing it from the beginning of time, where we create our own religion to make us feel better about ourselves. 00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:53.000 That's what Adam and Eve did all the way back in the Garden of Eden. 00:31:53.920 --> 00:32:01.120 They ran and they hid from God, they created a religion to cover up their sins with fig leaves to declare to God that 00:32:01.720 --> 00:32:04.700 God needs to love them and they obligate God based on what they do. 00:32:06.120 --> 00:32:09.700 But God doesn't work that way. 00:32:09.980 --> 00:32:11.320 God is obligated to no man. 00:32:12.680 --> 00:32:19.900 The way these religious systems work is you create enough for you to feel good about yourself, so that you can create these other rules to do whatever it is that you want to 00:32:19.900 --> 00:32:27.010 make you happy, because, truthfully, it's always been about you, or me, or whoever creates religion. 00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:35.100 You see that within our own culture, that people will create things to have this moral position of authority over others 00:32:35.100 --> 00:32:42.120 so that we can belittle other groups around them to the point that they'll even start to create their own system of 00:32:42.120 --> 00:32:44.020 laws as to which they should be governed by. 00:32:44.600 --> 00:32:51.920 Apart from God and anyone that stands from God, they will just shame them to the point, and this passes, that they literally take their blood and that they're drinking 00:32:51.920 --> 00:32:54.420 from the blood of those who are killed. 00:32:59.800 --> 00:33:05.200 So as if to ask us, what owns you? 00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:09.840 Or whose glory do you live for? 00:33:12.320 --> 00:33:15.100 Or where do you compromise in your own life? 00:33:17.020 --> 00:33:24.200 Where do we say, "I follow God 75% of the time, but then there's these one thing that I want and it feels good to me, 00:33:24.640 --> 00:33:31.880 and so, therefore, I'll do that." At some point in our lives, God's not going to agree with everything that 00:33:31.880 --> 00:33:32.180 we do. 00:33:33.400 --> 00:33:34.160 In fact, he shouldn't. 00:33:35.700 --> 00:33:42.740 If the picture of your God agrees with everything that you do, here's where we need to be careful as to assume that is 00:33:42.740 --> 00:33:47.940 the true God, but rather, what we should question is if it's not simply a God that we've created in our own image to please ourselves. 00:33:50.840 --> 00:33:55.980 Walking with Jesus at some point comes in conflict with who I am because who I am isn't always aligned with him. 00:33:56.780 --> 00:33:58.820 The question becomes, where do I lay down my life? 00:34:00.920 --> 00:34:05.920 This Book of Revelation, what you see in 18, verse four, even God's people are seduced. 00:34:05.940 --> 00:34:13.159 It says, "I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in 00:34:13.219 --> 00:34:20.840 her sins and receive of her plagues.'" That's to say, in this tragic moment, 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:25.290 how sad it is when God's people look like the world. 00:34:27.199 --> 00:34:34.239 Now, when you read all this passages, let me just say this, I don't read a section like this to say, "Okay, this is to guilty for 00:34:34.239 --> 00:34:41.380 all the bad things you do, so do good things." This isn't a battle of good and bad, this is a battle of 00:34:41.460 --> 00:34:42.750 God's glory or not. 00:34:43.699 --> 00:34:48.409 I don't want you to leave out of here and be a better person, I want you to leave out of here and be God's person. 00:34:49.780 --> 00:34:51.620 Religion is about being a better person. 00:34:52.420 --> 00:34:53.360 We belong to Jesus. 00:34:54.659 --> 00:34:57.720 The picture here is a calling to surrender your life to him. 00:34:59.640 --> 00:35:01.600 John is laying this out. 00:35:01.620 --> 00:35:08.880 If you read on chapter 18 and 19, I don't have time to read this, but soon as you get to 18, it says, "All fallen, and fallen is Babylon." You see this destruction 00:35:09.000 --> 00:35:12.300 of everything that Babylon is as if to say to us, "Why live for that? 00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:17.640 Why make life about that?" Where it says, "The church that's being persecuted, look, we understand what you're going through. 00:35:17.860 --> 00:35:24.640 Just remember, staying true to Jesus is what matters, because in the end, that's the only thing that will matter. 00:35:25.920 --> 00:35:33.340 Everything else in this world will go away, but your heart to Christ will endure for eternity." 00:35:33.560 --> 00:35:39.740 When you get to Revelation 21, this is where the grand story all comes together for us. 00:35:40.660 --> 00:35:47.720 He says in this theme of tying all the Bible, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no 00:35:47.720 --> 00:35:48.580 longer any sea. 00:35:48.940 --> 00:35:54.260 And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 00:35:54.820 --> 00:36:01.960 "And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and I will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will 00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:04.780 be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. 00:36:05.020 --> 00:36:12.100 And there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain, the first things have passed away.' And He has said, 'Behold, 00:36:12.180 --> 00:36:19.320 I am making all things new.'" A couple of things just real quickly I want to say to you here, that when God makes a new heaven and a new earth, the Greek word, what 00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:24.950 is explained here, isn't a blowing up of everything and making it new again, the word is actually renewed. 00:36:26.460 --> 00:36:30.680 Meaning, God doesn't waste anything, God's the greatest recycler to ever live. 00:36:30.800 --> 00:36:36.580 You think in your life, rather than destroy you and start over with someone else, what God does is He makes all things new in you from the inside out. 00:36:36.820 --> 00:36:38.410 He does the same thing with all of His creation. 00:36:39.460 --> 00:36:43.000 He doesn't blow it up and started over, He refines it and renews it. 00:36:43.660 --> 00:36:46.280 It's like restoring an old car that doesn't work anymore. 00:36:46.320 --> 00:36:48.760 God's taking the new heavens and earth, He's renewing it. 00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:56.160 When He paints this picture for us of eternity, what He paints is what I would say is the most integrated picture 00:36:56.160 --> 00:36:58.720 of heaven, I think, in religion, period. 00:37:00.280 --> 00:37:05.680 You think of all the different views that people have of heaven, and God's picture really is the forever family. 00:37:06.900 --> 00:37:11.360 There aren't other multiple heavens of different places and people in different existences. 00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:12.540 There's Heaven, there's hell, and that's it. 00:37:13.540 --> 00:37:15.420 What God created you for us to belong to Him. 00:37:16.500 --> 00:37:23.800 When you get to Revelation chapter 21, you see this, God collecting every tribe, tongue, language, and people, all of them together with Him, this bride 00:37:23.800 --> 00:37:26.790 that's finally been adorned, to meet Jesus face-to-face. 00:37:27.360 --> 00:37:30.020 God is tabernacle, is dwelling among them. 00:37:30.160 --> 00:37:37.240 He tells us He wipes away all of those struggles in your life, all of the pain, all of the hardship, all of the question, all of the, "How, God, how are you going to work through all of 00:37:37.240 --> 00:37:39.000 this?" He takes it all away. 00:37:39.040 --> 00:37:44.300 We have this massive release of all of that pressure of life in the goodness of His presence. 00:37:46.380 --> 00:37:48.720 What He's saying is, you're finally home. 00:37:51.350 --> 00:37:52.160 You're finally home. 00:37:54.320 --> 00:38:01.000 What you see in the beginning in Genesis, God creates everything for His purpose, on the seventh day, He rests. 00:38:01.420 --> 00:38:03.920 Intentions are for us to enjoy His presence forever. 00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:06.960 What happens, man sins, and in that sin, there is unrest. 00:38:07.800 --> 00:38:12.530 What our souls have longed for from the very beginning days is peace. 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:15.740 I want peace. 00:38:18.940 --> 00:38:22.960 As if to come to this passage and say, "Does your soul feel unsettled?" John knows. 00:38:23.440 --> 00:38:26.440 John knows the human soul, it always goes to this unsettling. 00:38:28.000 --> 00:38:32.410 In some area of your life, you might find a little peace, but if you find it one area, you're not going to have it in another. 00:38:32.740 --> 00:38:36.720 There's always this unsettling in your life and it longs for this peace. 00:38:37.340 --> 00:38:44.360 John is saying, "And the presence of God, forevermore, you will have it." In fact, he goes on from 00:38:44.360 --> 00:38:46.700 this, he tells us He's making all things new. 00:38:46.700 --> 00:38:53.900 In chapter 22, and this is the last verse I'm going to read to us, he says, "Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God 00:38:53.900 --> 00:38:55.700 and of the lamb, in the middle of its street. 00:38:56.060 --> 00:38:59.740 On either side of the river was the tree of life." Where's he going back to? 00:39:01.300 --> 00:39:01.860 The Garden of Eden. 00:39:03.800 --> 00:39:04.890 The Garden of Eden. 00:39:06.240 --> 00:39:08.080 The whole theme of Scripture coming together. 00:39:10.380 --> 00:39:18.260 1,500 years from the time Genesis was written, 40 authors, three languages, three continents, one 00:39:18.260 --> 00:39:18.620 theme. 00:39:20.840 --> 00:39:24.230 Open up the beginning of your Bible, and the first couple chapters, read about this tree. 00:39:24.540 --> 00:39:27.940 At the end of your Bible, the last chapter, it's the garden. 00:39:29.380 --> 00:39:30.180 God's presence. 00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:37.170 "The tree of life, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 00:39:37.380 --> 00:39:42.620 There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him. 00:39:43.060 --> 00:39:47.120 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." Look at that. 00:39:47.700 --> 00:39:49.000 Not the beast, no mark. 00:39:49.600 --> 00:39:50.420 Get your computer chip here. 00:39:51.520 --> 00:39:58.880 "And there will no longer be any night, and they'll not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord will illumine 00:39:58.880 --> 00:40:04.730 them, and they," look at this, "Will reign forever and ever." When Adam and Eve were created, what did God say to them? 00:40:05.600 --> 00:40:08.280 Be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth. 00:40:09.360 --> 00:40:10.020 They're ruling and reigning. 00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:18.100 What God says to us in His kingdom, together with Him face-to-face, the ruling and reigning. 00:40:19.640 --> 00:40:20.580 What's John doing here? 00:40:22.180 --> 00:40:25.460 He's tying the entire Bible together for us that it makes sense. 00:40:27.160 --> 00:40:29.800 This grand story of God being told. 00:40:31.180 --> 00:40:38.260 One of the last verses of Revelation, he says to us in chapter 22, God says, Jesus, he says, "I 00:40:38.260 --> 00:40:45.300 am the Alpha and Omega, the first and last, the beginning the end." What He's saying to the church is, 00:40:46.240 --> 00:40:49.020 if the church asked the question, "God, how do we know these things will be so? 00:40:50.660 --> 00:40:54.120 How do we know that we aren't to feel hopeless in everything that we're going through? 00:40:55.680 --> 00:40:58.040 Where can we rest ourselves?" Here's what it tells us. 00:40:59.340 --> 00:41:00.720 "Because, in the beginning, I had say-so. 00:41:02.980 --> 00:41:04.700 As we've gone through time, I've had say-so. 00:41:05.080 --> 00:41:12.400 When it comes to the very end, it's all up to me." He encapsulates it all. 00:41:12.760 --> 00:41:16.300 He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. 00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:20.960 All of these things are in His control. 00:41:23.560 --> 00:41:30.580 John's Book of Revelation, for us, is a book of worship in the midst of hardship, that we could see the goodness 00:41:30.580 --> 00:41:31.950 of God through it all. 00:41:32.800 --> 00:41:39.920 It's the tearing back into the spiritual world from a heavenly perspective so that we could see God's hand orchestrated throughout time and 00:41:39.940 --> 00:41:43.500 understand with Jesus, in the end, we win. 00:41:45.580 --> 00:41:52.880 A question for us is, or a statement, I should say, is if you're not ready, you're not ready 00:41:52.880 --> 00:42:02.540 for a Second Coming, if you haven't laid down your life towards him through his First Coming, Jesus's 00:42:02.540 --> 00:42:07.600 First Coming for us was an opportunity to find freedom from sin and guilt. 00:42:09.540 --> 00:42:16.540 Jesus died for us on the cross so that we could find spiritual life in him, that at his Second Coming, we don't run and hide and pray that rocks fall on 00:42:16.540 --> 00:42:20.390 us, but rather, we lift our eyes to the goodness of this king for which our heart desires. 00:42:22.700 --> 00:42:29.740 Revelation is a book for us to encourage our soul to the goodness of this God who wants to make all things new and wipe away every tear from 00:42:29.740 --> 00:42:36.740 your eye to look forward to the things written in Genesis because God's going to rewrite or renew those things in our lives that we 00:42:36.740 --> 00:42:43.720 can experience, collectively together with our forever family, the goodness of God.