Intro to book of Revelation

You will take your seats, we will begin, and then open your bibles to the Book of Revelation. Revelation first, lesson. The name of this book has no s on the end of it. It is revelation, not revelations. There is only one amen. It is the revelation. And as sure as I say that, I'll put an s on it before the morning is done. That word revelation there in revelation one one is the Greek word from which we get the word apocalypse, the revelation or the apocalypse, the revealing, the showing forth the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. So there is a revealing here, and even in this introduction we get an idea of the nature of the book itself. There's a lot of mystery that surrounds Revelation, and a lot of that mystery is due to the fact that we try to read it in ways that it was never intended to be read. We think that this book is somehow not practical and yet just completely mysterious. But listen to this from Vern Porthrus in his book The Return of the King, which I recommend to you highly. In many ways, Revelation is the most practical book of the entire New Testament. Just think about that for a moment. In many ways, Revelation is the most practical book in the entire New Testament. Now, if we're honest, most of us hear that and say, no, least practical, maybe most practical, not at all. But he says, in many ways, and I agree with this, the most practical book of the entire New Testament, since it is specifically written to Christians who live in the post Apostolic Age. Think about that, it's specifically written to Christians who live in the post Apostolic Age. What does that mean? Well, think about the Gospels, the Gospels and the audience for the Gospels. Right. The audience for the Gospels is really first century people, right, whether it's first century Jewish audience in the case of Matthew, or first century Gentile audience, but it's first century Christians. Think about the epistles. The epistles are written two and four specific churches and specific circumstances. They're in the first century, first and second Corinthians are written to a church, right, how practical is that for you and me? So we have to get in there, understand the context of that church, and then pull that out and say, okay, how do we apply this to us here today when it was written for those individuals. But the Book of Revelation was written specifically to Christians living in a post Apostolic age. So in that sense, it is far more practical and applicable to you and me than even the epistles are. And the epistles are incredibly applicable to us, amen, he says. He continues, this means that the symbols and visions we find here are meant for us. Therefore we must make every effort to interpret them correctly and apply them to our present context. This is important because if you're like me again, I came to faith later in life. I didn't grow up in the church, and so when I came to faith during my university days, I didn't know. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know where to begin. So the first book I ever read in the Bible was Revelation. I don't recommend that, but I love this book. I have grown to love this book. But I don't recommend that if you're brand new, you just open up and start reading. There can be rather difficult the attitudes towards this book. There are three main attitudes toward this book. One is fear, the other is marginalization, and then there's sensationalism. Fear. Most people have fear related to this book. I know again, I did right. It was the first book that I read. There's a lot of stuff in there that I didn't understand. A lot of it seemed gruesome, and it was fearful. That's why I don't recommend you know that, you know you're a new believer, you just open up and start reading at the Book of Revelation. And a lot of people still hold that idea, that idea of fear. The second one is marginalization. Why do we marginalize this book? Luther even argued that this book was impractical and rather useless for the ordinary believer. And there are a lot of people who believe that that this book is really impractical. It doesn't have a lot of use for the ordinary believer. Doesn't have a lot of use for the here and the now, and we'll talk about that. So because of that, we marginalize the book. And outside of those first few chapters, don't really spend time in this book. For most people, if they've ever heard sermons from the Book of Revelation, if they've ever done any teaching from the Book of Revelation, it's in those first few chapters. Other than that we don't deal with it. Kind of like Daniel, you know, first half great, anything beyond that, you know, not so much. But then there's the sensationalism that is the most popular attitude toward the book for those who read it. Right, We sensationalize it. And so something happens in the news and we say, aha, see that's this thing in the Book of Revelation, and you know, here we are and this is happening now. And you know, we hear about you know, earthquakes and you know these sorts of things, and ah, you know, global warming and climate change and all of these catastrophes, and you know, things happening more and more frequently, which is here's the interesting thing. We're actually in many ways not seeing more frequent catastrophes, But you know what is happening. One hundred years ago, when there was a flood in some remote village off in Southeast Asia, we didn't hear about it. But now, in the era of twenty four hour news cycles with cameras everywhere in the world, things that you would never have heard about one hundred years ago you hear about all the time. So it seems like there's a lot more of it than there's ever been before. But it's really easy to sensationalize these kinds of things. So many times, right, people have said, ah, the Antichrist is here. The time is now. You know, during World War One, that was it, the war to end all wars, This is the end right. Then World War Two came, Ah, this is it, Hitler, He's the Antichrist, this is the end right. And then the Jews come back to the nation of Israel and it's like, ah, here they're back in the land. Now the timetable starts. This was nineteen forty eight, So there was a book that was published in nineteen eighty seven, because again, you know, this generation shall not pass right. A generation is forty years from nineteen forty eight to nineteen eighty eight, forty years. That's the generation. There's a popular book. It was a bestseller. Eighty eight reasons. Christ will return in nineteen eighty eight, No in nineteen eighty nine. And there was not a recant, right, There was not a recant But again sensationalism, right, and a lot of it coming from the way that we read this book. Why is this book so difficult? We stay away from it because of the difficulty. There's four main reasons that this book is so difficult. Number one is the type of literature. It's unique as a type of literature. Apocalyptic literature is something with which we are not familiar. There are types of literature with which we're familiar. And when I say literary type or literary genre, think about it this way. If someone stands up in front of you, or someone opens a book, or you sit down in your house and you open a book, start with Once upon a time, everybody knows that it's a it's a fairy tale, right, And once you know that it's a fairy tale, you know that there are certain rules that apply because you're reading a fairy tale. Right, There's a way that things happen in a fairy tale. That's different than the way that they happen in other types of stories. Right, you go and you buy the magic beans, and you throw the magic beans out. In the next day you get a beanstalk. Right, because you know it's a fairy tale. You don't go, ah that, come on, I know agriculture, that's just not the way things happen. No, it's a fairy tale, right. And apocalyptic literature is a very specific type of literature. And if you're familiar with apocalyptic literature, then when you read the opening of the Book of Revelation, you know that there are certain rules that apply. The problem is that we are not familiar with apocalyptic literature, so us reading Revelation is like, you know, let's say somebody came from another culture and they don't understand the English language. They don't understand the concept of a fairy tale. You start with a Once upon a Time and their immediate assumption is, oh, this is a history book, right, And then all of a sudden, you know, Alice is going down the rabbit hole, and then she drinks this and she gets bigger, and she drinks that and she gets smaller, and they're kind of going, wait, this this doesn't make any sense. Whereas you very familiar with the idea of this genre of fairy tale, know exactly what's going on. Well, that's the problem with the way we read the Book of Revelation. We go, yes, this is the Bible. I know how to read the Bible. And then we get the Revelation and there start to be all of these different you know, symbols and things like that, and we try to read them the same way we read the rest of the Bible, not understanding the rules of apocalyptic literature. We get lost, we get confused, we quit okay. Secondly, the use of the Old Testament. The use of the Old Testament. I'll say more about this in a minute, but because we're not familiar with the Old Testament, Revelation is a problem for us. Thirdly, the use of symbols, and fourthly the use of numbers. Let's start looking at the use of the Old Testament. There are four hundred and four verses in the Book of Revelation. In those four hundred and four verses, there are five hundred allusions to the Old Testament. Four hundred and four verses, five hundred allusions to the Old Testament. John alludes to nearly every book in the Old Testament canon. Most of his references are from Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Okay, think about this, Most of his references are from Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel psalms were okay, but again, what type of literature is that? The Psalms? That's poetry, right, So already we've got Revelation using the Old Testament. We're not very familiar with the Old Testament. Secondly, it's using poetic literature from the Old Testament. And then what else, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel that's apocalyptic literature or prophetic literature from the Old Testament. Well, not only are we not familiar with the Old Testament, but in the Old Testament, the things that we're at least familiar with are what the prophets because they're using apocalyptic language as well. So we don't understand apocalyptic literc in the Old Testament. Now we're reading the Book of Revelation that is apocalyptic literature in the New Testament. And guess what he keeps quoting the apocalyptic literature of the Old Testament. Are you seeing how this can be difficult? Most of again. Also, he references the Pentitouch, the historical books, the Wisdom literature, and the prophets apart from Ruth Ecclesiastes, and hey guy, John alludes to every book in the Old Testament. There's thirty nine Old Testament books. He quotes or alludes to thirty six of the thirty nine. Okay, So I mean again, this tells us something already. There are more Old Testament references in Revelation than in any other book in the New Testament. More than half of them are from Psalms, Isaiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Daniel contains the most in proportion to its length, and most of that comes from chapter seven. What did I say earlier about Daniel? When we read Daniel, we're fine up to what chapter six? Right? The Book of Revelation quotes mostly from the place in Daniel where we quit. Okay. In terms of actual numbers of references, Isaiah ranks first. Okay, So why is this difficult? This is difficult because we're already not familiar with the Old Testament. We already don't understand how to approach the Old Testament. Okay. And some of this is a theological problem. Because we don't have a really good grasp on biblical theology. We just don't know how to read the Old Testament, especially how to read the Old Testament as Christian literature. Right, So now we have a New Testament book using the Old Testament making assumptions about the Old Testament as Christian literature. Us who are not familiar with apocalyptic literature and the rules for that genre. We're also not familiar with the Old Testament, right, and even the rules for that genre are now thrust into a book that, in four hundred and four verses alludes to the Old Testament five hundred times. Okay, so this makes revelation difficult. Next, there's the use of symbols, the reference to colors, animals, lamp stands, spirits, etc. Et cetera, et cetera. The use of these symbols again, remember if you're the foreign person who doesn't understand the English language and doesn't understand the fairy tales as a genre. Somebody starts off with Once upon a Time, you think it's a history book, and then they start talking about you know, giants and bean starks and all this other kind of stuff. You're you're lost, right, this is what happens when we come to the Book of Revelation and it starts using colors and animals and you know, spirits and lamp stands and all these other these other symbols, and we don't understand apocalyptic literature. We don't understand what these symbols refer to. We end up with a jumble of things. Let me give you one example. What color was Jesus? What color was Jesus? Well, most people would say Jesus was white. That's what most people say. And it's ironic, you know, I thought maybe that was kind of just a Western thing. And then I come here and I'm behind the mini bus and there's a picture of a white Jesus. I'm like, I'm in Africa. Why would I find pictures of a white Jesus in Africa? Right? Well, that's because, right everybody knows Jesus is white. Right Well, there are people who take advantage of this misconception. First of all, we don't know what color Jesus was. Technically we have some ideas, but there are groups like a particular black nationalist cult you know the name of Malcolm X, right, you know, Malcolm X Nation of Islam, Black nationalist cult. One of the things that was pivotal in his conversion to the Nation of Islam was this whole idea of the white Jesus. And somebody from the Nation of Islam comes to him and says, why do you think Jesus was white? The white man's been lying to you. Jesus is not white. The Bible says very clearly in Revelation Chapter one that the hairs of his head were like Lamb's wool, and that his feet were like bronze burned in a furnish. What white man do you know who has hair like Lamb's wool and feet a bronze like they've been burning a furnace. And he's like, what, Yes, you've been lied to your whole life these pictures of the white Jesus. And the Bible tells us that Jesus did not look like these pictures of the white Jesus. Wow, Well, if the white man has lied to me about that, what else has the white man lied to me about? Well? Well, it is just a little bit of a problem. Shall we read the whole context of that? Go to chapter one, beginning of verse twelve. Revelation Chapter one, beginning of verse twelve. Then I I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on again. This is a vision, right, This is a vision that John saw. It's an apocalyptic vision, so he's seeing things that are symbolic. This is like once upon a time language. Right, he heard a voice. Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, And on turning, I saw seven golden lamp stands, and in the midst of the lamp stands one like the son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow. So the idea of hair like wool is not about texture, it's about color. His hair was white like wool and white like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire. So if he literally he had hair like wool, he literally had eyes like Okay. His feet were like burnest bronze refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. Is this intended to be literal? Adsolutely not, absolutely not. And here's a principle you need to understand. When you're reading the Book of Revelation. Assume that it's literal unless it's clearly not. I mean, I'm sorry. Assume that it's symbolic unless it's clearly not. This is apocalyptic literature. Assume that it's symbolic unless it's clearly not. This will solve a whole lot of our problems, because generally what we do when we come to the Book of Revelation is we just think, right, we're reading the Bible. This is like, you know, anything else in the Bible. We're reading the New Testament, this is like anything else in the New Testament. And the rule is we assume that it's literal unless it's obviously not. But this is apocalyptic literature. We actually have to reverse that. Assume that it's symbolic unless it's obviously not, and try not to switch halfway, which is exactly what people do when they're like, well, Jesus said, he're like whoa and his feet were like bronze. He was a black man. Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Now, on the other hand, he more than likely looked nothing like the picture that we see of him. You know the picture, the picture of the hair model with the flowing locks, right, and the pretty face, and you know these European features. He was not European. We know that for a fact. Amen, somebody, right, he was not European. He was a Jew. He's from the Middle East. Okay, probably had olive skin, not but he does not look like that picture that we see. He was not a hair model. And we know that he didn't have a beautiful form, right, He wasn't pretty. When Jesus walked around, right, people didn't just stop and go, wow, that might be the most beautiful man I've ever seen in my life. It was probably more like, you know Jesus, which right, not immediately oh, the pretty one. No, no, he was not not particularly handsome. Number one, not European. Number two. Number three. Second commandment makes it pretty clear that we shouldn't be walking around with images of him anyway. So first, there's a problem with the picture of the European Jesus. Second, there's a problem with the picture of Jesus at all. But that's another discussion for another day. All right, the use of numbers. Let's run through this quickly. The use of numbers. Numbers are important and symbolic. In the Book of Revelation, number one, there is the number three. The number three is the number for God. By the way, these numbers, these are kind of rules for apocalyptic literature. Okay, the number three the number for God. It's interesting. You have the Trinity, and then you have the false trinity, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. Right, it's a false God. But that number three is not just the number for God. That number three is really so what I likectication, believe it or not. Not only do is Revelation arguably the most practical book in the New Testament, it's also probably the most easy to memorize in the New Testament, because things come in rhythm of threes, right, and when you're memorizing things, that kind of poetic device of boom boom boom boom boom boom makes things easier to memorize. So, interestingly enough, most practical book in the New Testament and probably the most easy to memorize in the New Testament. The number four. The number four is the number four for creation, right, Angels at the four corners of the Earth, holding back the four winds, the four living creatures. When we talk about people from every tribe, language, tongue, and nation, what are we talking about people from all of creation for the whole earth. Praise, honor, glory, power, praise from all the earth. Sword, famine, disease, wild beast. This is judgment on all of the earth. Peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, earthquakes, again, judgment on all the earth. So that when you see the number four or when you see four things, it is usually a reference to the fact that something is happening or has happened to all the earth. Okay, So the idea of the four corners of the Earth is not the idea that the earth is flat. Church doesn't teach that. Church never taught that in the history of the Church. There's never been a time when people thought that the earth was flat. And this is a very important truth. Right There are a lot of people, you know, you're climate change and you're a climate change denier, and you know, there was a time when the Church taught that the earth was flat, and now we know that the earth is not. No, there was never a time when the Church taught that the Earth was flat never ever, ever, ever, ever ever, four corners of the Earth, four winds, symbolic number referring to the totality of the Earth. The number seven is a number of perfection. And it's not always like perfection in terms of you know, this thing is perfectly good. Sometimes it's perfectly bad. Seven churches. There were more than seven churches, right, but these seven churches existed on a circular postal route in Asia Minor. And that number seven is a number of perfection. It's a perfect representation of the church. Right. Seven spirits, seven golden lampstands, seven ours, seven seals, seven horns. Right, what is this? Seven seals, Yes, perfect judgment, seven horns, perfect judgment, seven eyes, perfect sight, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven crowns, seven heads, seven plagues, seven bowls, seven hills, seven kings, seven thousand killed because of the earthquake. Seven beattitudes in Revelation one, three, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, sixteen, nineteen nine, twenty six, twenty two, seven, and twenty two fourteen. There are beatitudes. When you get finished, you end up with seven beatitudes. Okay, so seven the number of perfection. It can be perfect judgment. Right, seven years of tribulation is that literal? Sorry to my dispensational friends, No, it is not a literal seven years. Okay, it is not seven years perfect tribulation. Three and a half years, something happens. What happens three and a half is half of a seven. The seven is broken. If we had this seven years of perfect tribulation, it might end us. But in three and a half years it's broken. It doesn't end us. Okay. Three and a half is symbolic. Seven is symbolic, It is not literal. The number ten is a number of completion. Ten days, you will have tribulation revelation to ten a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns. Right, So you got two symbolic numbers. There. I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horn. Diadems crowns, authority, complete authority. Okay, all right, let's move ahead. There's another number that's used, and it's a thousand. A thousand is ten times ten times ten. Right. Ten is a number of completion. A thousand is a number that's just huge. You know, we think in millions and billions nowadays. But again, a thousands a big number. It's not just a big number, but it's ten times ten times ten, so it's it's a multitude. So we hear things like in Revelation five to one, myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. The number one hundred and forty four thousand, Well, one hundred and forty four thousand, that's twelve times twelve times a thousand. We'll get to the number twelve, But twelve times twelve times one thousand, that's an important number. The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand Revelation nine six nor nine sixteen. So the number thousand is the number of a multitude. The beast will be bound for a thousand years? Is that literal? Our dispensational premillennial friends say yes, yes, the millennium is a literal thousand years. Really, in a book where almost every number is symbolic, somehow that number becomes literal. No, that number two is symbolic. Okay, it's symbolic. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years? Is that literal? And Revelation twenty four Nope, it's not literal. The number twelve. The number twelve is the number for the people of God. And we don't just see this in Revelation. We see this before. Right, how many tribes twelve? How many apostles twelve? Right? The stars above the woman's head twelve. The New Jerusalem has twelve foundations on which the names of the twelve apostles are written. The tree of life bears how many kinds of fruit? Twelve? There are twenty four elders around the throne twelve representing the people of God and or the representatives of the people of God in the Old Testament, right, twelve tribes and the representatives of the people of God in the New Testament. Twelve apostles. Put those together and you get twenty four one hundred and forty four thousand. Is what twelve times twelve times one thousand. And that same chapter it's referred to as a great multitude that no one could number from every tribe, nation, tongue, and people. We got a huge number of the people of God from all over the earth. On the one hand, you can represent that as one hundred and forty four thousand, or a great multitude which no one can number, but it's the same group of people. One hundred and forty four thousand is not literal. Virtually every number in the Book of Revelation is symbolic and obviously, so okay, we run into trouble when we start trying to make these symbolic numbers literal. All right, So those are the numbers. Let's start quickly about approaches to the Book of Revelation. There are really four main approaches, and there's a kind of a fifth one that I'll throw in there. Preterist, historicist, futurist, idealist, and an eclectic or modified idealist. Said a word about each of these because these kind of determine the way we look at the book. The preterist approach. According to this view, everything recorded in Revelation was fulfilled in the first century, at the time when John wrote the book. It's done right. This book is referring to things that already happened. They already happened during the persecution under Nero and Domssion, right, and this is just John looking back or writing about things that have already happened. The problem with that is the book becomes completely irrelevant to us. There's the historicist view. The historicist view is that the Apocalypse, according to them, presents a concise outline of the Church's development from the day of Pentecost to the Consummation. Now there's a key question. Is somebody using the historicist view, they'll ask you, where do you think we are right now? So the seven churches represent seven periods of history for the church, right, and as we get closer to the end, we move from onn Ter's to the next, and the next, next, next, Right, where do you think we are right now? How far into this do you think we have gone? The problem is this makes the book not accessible or relevant to all. Then there's the futurist view. The futurist view says that everything in the book really beyond those first chapters happens at some time in the future. Right when when literally all hell breaks loose, Right when hell itself breaks loose in the future and that great tribulation comes, then all of a sudden, everything that happens after those first five chapters begins to be realized. The key question is for the futurist is when will it begin? Do you think that we have entered into that time? Do you think that this great tribulation, This literal seven year period has begun, right, and you know. Or then there's the idea of the rapture. Right, there's a pre trip rapture, a mid trip rapture, or a post trip rapture. Right, So the futurists would say all of these things in Revelation happens sometime in the future. The futurist who believes in a pre tribulation rapture says, the church is going to be raptured out and then literally all hell is going to break loose. The person who believes in the mid trib rapture says, nope, it's going to start, and then three and a half years into the tribulation, then we're going to be raptured. And then there are those who say, nope, seven years literal rapture, literal tribulation, and then we get raptured out at the end of it. But again, this is the futurist approach. Okay, think about our dispensational friends approach it this way. Then there's the idealist approach. The idealist approaches interprets Revelation as a book of principles that contrast the victorious Christ and his people with a defeated Satan and his people. The Apocalypse is not a history of events that have occurred in the past or a prophecy of events that will happen in the future. It is a book that fills God's people with comfort and motivation to endure to the end. Idealists stress the principles in the book so that its message is applicable to Christians of all generations. The key question is why should we have hope? Why should we have hope? All right? Is there a problem here? Some I gonna argue that it doesn't seem to take the prophecy literally or seriously. There's an eclectic or modified idealist approach, and this is the one that I take, and the one that many in sort of classic reform circles take. In classic reform circles generous generally, you'll see some different versions of this sort of idealist approach. The modified idealist approach is the same as the idealist but with the added dimension of the depiction of the consummation of all things. So, yes, we approach this like the idealist apply it to us today with the acknowledgment that there is also the prophetic element of the explanation of the way things will end and the consummation of all things at the end of the age. Okay, Well, along with that, there are schatological views pre millennial view, a millennial view, and a post millennial view. That term millennium means thousand years. We've already alluded some to the pre millennial view. This is the most common view. When you see the Left Behind movies, or when most people talk about the Book of Revelation. Most of the people who teach a great deal on the Book of Revelation, unfortunately, are people who are coming from a premillennial perspective. This is the dominant perspective. And let me just say a word about why I believe this is the predominant perspective. There's a number of reasons for this, a number of things that came together at the same time early on in the twentieth century. Number one, the idea of dispensationalism was being popularized at the turn of the century and at the beginning of the twentieth century. This idea was popularized because of a number of things. Number one, because of the publishing of the Schofield Bible. The Schoolfield Bible was the first Bible really was study notes, and these study notes were dispensational premillennial study notes. Right, So you know, first popular study Bible. Also the rise of the Bible Church and the Bible College. Right. Whenever you see something that says Bible Church or Bible College, this is the dispensational premillennial right wording right. Also the rise of places like Dallas Theological Seminary, right, which is the mecca of dispensational premillennial teaching. Okay, but then something else happens. During this time. You've got the Schofield Bible, You've got the rise of dispensational teachers and teaching. But then you have World War two and in nineteen forty seven, the declaration of Israel as a state nineteen forty eight, their establishment in the land, and the pre millennialists were arguing that Israel is God's time peace. Them coming back to the land and re establishing the sacrificial system is critical to all of these things taking place. They've been teaching this for a long time, and now all of a sudden, what happens. Israel goes back to the land and they're like, ha, vindicated, there it is. It has happened, right. So all of these things put together leads to the rise of dispensationalism like you would not believe. And so for most people when they open the Book of Revelation or when they talk about the future in terms of their eschatology, whether they know it or not, the assumptions that they are making are dispensational premillennial assumptions. Okay. So in premillennialism, you have death and resurrection of Christ. Eventually you have this seven year tribulation that will come. The rapture is going to happen either before, in the middle of or or after, and then you'll have the second coming of Christ. He will come to the earth and he will reign on the earth for one thousand years from Jerusalem. Then there will be the final judgment and then the end of the age, okay, or the eternal state, the eternal reign of Christ. That's the pre millennial view, the amillennial view. And be careful with this because a lot of people go, well, the amillennial view, ah means not or against right. So we're against the millennium. The Bible clearly talks about a thousand year reign. The amillennial people are people who don't take the Bible seriously. Bible says a thousand year reign, we go uh no, that is not amillennialism. Ourmillennialism sees that as symbolic and not literal, like almost every number in the Book of Revelation. So it's not that we don't believe in that. But here's the other thing. The ammillennialist argues that the reign of Christ is now through the church. Now, well, wait a minute, Satan is supposed to be bound. Yep, he is. That happens at the cross. Well, I mean, if he's bound, that means he can do nothing. No, you read that into the text. It's not what the text says. It's not what the text says. So this period where the Gospel is advancing throughout the world is that time of Christ rule and rain. And then the end will come, no secret rapture, Nope, nope, the end will come. The trumpet will sound, he will return and we will be with him. Right. Post millennialism is similar, almost identical to that. But the post millennialist argues that things are going to get increasingly better and then there will be this thousand year reign, not literal okay, but symbolic. But things will get increasing better, then there will be this rain, and then the end will come. All right, listen to this from verm Porthos. If revelation is clear, why do so many people have trouble with it? And why is it so controversial? We have trouble because we approach it from the wrong end. Suppose I start by asking what do the bear's feet in Revelation thirteen to two stand for. If I start with a detail and ignore the big picture, I'm asking for trouble. God is at the center of Revelation four to five. We must start with him and with the contrast between him and his Satanic opponents. If instead, we try right away to puzzle out details, it is as if we try to use a knife by grasping it by the blade instead of the hand. We are starting at the wrong end. Revelation is a picture book, not a puzzle book. Don't try to puzzle it out. Don't become preoccupied by isolated details. Rather, become engrossed in the story. Praise the Lord, cheer for the saints, detest the beast, long for the final victory. That's the way we approach the Book of revelation. The outline revelation gives us a series of parallel narratives. This is important to understand. The judgment happens over and over again, right, And when the judgment comes, the judgment is complete, and we've got seven seals, and in the end of those seals, it's done well. And then you start over again. Right, why are we doing that? There was a movie a while back, and it's a unique movie. Somebody told me about this movie. Not necessarily the best movie ever made, but it's a movie called vantage Point. And in this movie, Dennis Quaid and Forrest Whittaker, or the starts of this movie, Forrest Whittaker is on vacations. He's on holiday somewhere and I think it's in Spain or something like that, and an assassination happens. He's watching this person, you know, at a speech, and an assassination happens. And this movie is unique in that the movie tells the same story over and over again, and one time you see it from the standpoint of this tourist who sees it happen. Then it starts all over again and you see it from the standpoint of the police who'll respond to it. Then it starts over again. You see it from the standpoint of the security guards who are guarding the person who's assassinated. Then it starts over again, and you see it from the standpoint of the people who carry out the assassination. The same story over and over again, but from different perspectives. And every time you go, ah, okay, folks, that's the Book of Revelation. The same story of judgment and victory is told over and over and over again from multiple perspectives. And guess what we end up with? Seven parallel narratives, not five, not six, Seven parallel descriptions of judgment of sin and victory of God. What's seven the number on? Huh? Perfection? What's this? The picture of perfect judgment by a perfect God who gains perfect victory. Amen, do you see the difference between that and oh, they're locusts. I think the locusts are helicopters, and the helicopters are going during the war, and I think the war. You know, Babylon has got to be this nation, so this must be. First, it was World War One, then it was World War Two. Then all of a sudden nine to eleven. Wait a minute, guess where Saddam Hussein is ancient Babylon. This is the Great War with Babylon. We're here, Oh, don't act like you, you know, weren't listening to that stuff? Right again? How many times are we going to do that before we recognize that's not what's intended here. Here's the other issue. When we read the book like that revelation becomes useful someday, whereas with this particular approach, it's useful right here, right now, and it always has been since the day that it was given to the church. Amen. So what are our takeaways? Well, let me go back and look at this outline again, this from Derrick Thomas. First, you get the introduction, right, that's the chapters one through three. It kind of sets the stage for us. Then we get a series of visions. Chapters four and five is a vision before the Throne of God. Chapter six and seven there are the Seven Seals. Chapters eight through eleven, nineteen, there are the Seven Trumpets. Then chapters twelve through fourteen there's this tale of two Cities. You get a different perspective. Chapter fifteen and sixteen you have the Seven Bowls. Chapter seventeen through nineteen you have the destruction of Babylon. Right now that I miss something? Oh okay, all right, sorry, destruction of Babylon. I mean the destruction of Babylon is good, right, And then you have the final judgment in twenty through twenty two. What are our takeaways? One the glory of the trying God. That's number one. And this is what's to me, the great travesty of other approaches to this book. We spend all this time focusing on, well, is this the beast? Is this? The Antichrist? Is this? The false prophet? Is this? And we completely miss the glory of God, the relevance and reliability of the whole Bible, because remember what he's doing, He's telling us what is to come by going back to what has been written right this these is just the relevance of the Old Testament. The sovereignty of God. How can you foretell what is going to happen? Only if you're sovereign over it. As a father, one of the things I tried to avoid doing is guaranteeing things to my children, promising things to my children, because if you don't come through. But Dad, you said, right, But you know what, I'm not sovereign. I don't control the future. So are we going to do so? And so Lord Willing, Lord Willing, we will, right. But I don't control the future. God does. He doesn't have to say, Lord Willing, because he's Lord. The reality of suffering, suffering is real, and we see this in the Book of Revelation. The inevitability and severity of God's judgment. It's coming and it will be severe. The certainty of Christ's return, he is coming, and the consummation of redemptive history. It's going to happen. I'll close with this. The Book of Revelation clearly reminds us that God is sovereign over all of human history and that he will as he said, that he will do as he said, that he will turn human sin and suffering into good. Thus, the redemptive story takes us from creation to the fall, to redemption to the new creation. God not only will save his people, he will save all creation. And that's what we're reminded of in the Book of Revelation. Let's pray