Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / The Book of Revelation | Introduction & Overview | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Bible Study Series)

Transcript

The Book of Revelation | Introduction & Overview | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Bible Study Series) · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

0:00
If you grew up in the church, then perhaps you were like me in
0:03
that you have vivid memories of a variety of experiences that
0:10
you had in Christian meetings and events.
0:14
Some of those memories are good, some bad, some you're probably
0:19
still trying to figure out what category to place them in.
0:23
Out of the hundreds of services that I sat through as a child,
0:27
for some reason I have this strong recollection sitting
0:33
there in the main Sunday service, distracted during the
0:37
pastor's sermon. Hopefully that's not a common
0:40
experience for you, but I don't recollect my wandering mind
0:46
necessarily, but what I did in my restlessness.
0:52
You see, we had Pew Bibles available every time you came to
0:55
church. And so in trying to occupy my
0:59
mind with something sanctifying, I guess I grabbed one of those
1:04
Pew Bibles. And I began to comb through it,
1:08
trying to find something interesting to read.
1:12
And I realized that there isn't much time in the service.
1:14
So let me just go to the end of the book.
1:18
And what I stumbled upon is one of the most enthralling portions
1:22
in all of Scripture, the Book of Revelation.
1:28
And it didn't take me very long to be smitten by what my eyes
1:35
saw. Future catastrophes,
1:40
Unprecedented casualties like the world has never known.
1:46
The description of beasts and other strange creatures, This
1:51
tyrannical concept of the mark of the beast, the Great White
1:56
Throne, judgement, paranormal activity, and this description
2:02
of the new heaven and the new earth, among other things.
2:07
I can tell you with confidence that my brief exposure even as a
2:11
child to this book has such an impact on me clearly even to
2:16
this point in my life. And I don't think my experience
2:20
with this book, then, is a unique one.
2:24
What the Book of Revelation has to convey has captivated
2:29
millions throughout the ages. It attracts curious minds, It
2:35
has stumped critical thinkers. And it still has the ability to
2:40
fascinate even the casual reader, often times to the point
2:45
of dread. And I, I think it's safe to say
2:51
that for Christians especially, this book is more intimidating
2:55
than anything, mainly because of its cryptic and enigmatic style,
3:03
this rich symbolism and these mysterious references.
3:06
Believers really don't know what to do with it.
3:10
Even in teaching settings, you have many people who will go
3:13
through the book, maybe up to chapter 3, maybe entertain some
3:19
content in chapter 4 and five, but nothing beyond that.
3:24
If anything beyond that, maybe a brief description read from
3:28
chapter 21 about heaven. So throughout the ages,
3:33
throughout the centuries, due to frustration or fear, the Book of
3:38
Revelation has developed an unfortunate reputation.
3:44
Here's my heart on the matter. I don't want this church to be
3:49
content remaining intimidated or ignorant regarding its message
3:57
because the Book of Revelation is God's Word, and it's a book
4:02
that tells us right at its introduction that if you humbly
4:06
interact and apply it, you will be blessed.
4:12
I want us to be blessed. So that is why, beginning today,
4:16
we are starting a series in the Book of Revelation.
4:25
And before we open this door and step into the 1st chapter, I
4:28
want to take the time to present an overview of this book.
4:32
If you don't take notes, you're going to be a note taker in this
4:34
series. I think I want to establish a
4:39
proper foundation so that we can develop our understanding
4:44
rightly. And so we're not going in any
4:47
particular order today. We're all going to climb and
4:51
have a bird's eye view of the general landscape of this book.
4:55
Next week we will land and then we will begin our verse by verse
4:59
journey through this incredible book called the Book of the
5:04
Revelation of Jesus Christ. Here's our aim today.
5:10
We are going to answer one question.
5:13
You're going to leave here with one main answer.
5:17
There are different answers under this one main answer, but
5:19
here is what we are going to explore.
5:21
What is the Book of Revelation? It's three things.
5:31
The Book of Revelation is three things, and the first thing is
5:37
that it is a letter. Open Revelation chapter 1,
5:40
beginning in verse 4. I say that because the apostle
5:46
John, who is the author of this book, informs us almost
5:49
immediately who his immediate audience was.
5:52
And the way he begins is how many other letters open in the
5:54
New Testament. Revelation One verse 4.
5:58
John to the seven churches that are in Asia.
6:01
Pause. Asia Minor, modern day Turkey.
6:05
John to the seven churches that are in Asia.
6:07
Grace to you, and peace from him who is and who was and who is to
6:12
come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and
6:16
from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first born of the
6:19
dead and the ruler of kings on earth.
6:25
People make the mistake in thinking that the only thing the
6:29
seven churches that John addresses received were the
6:32
short postcards that you find in chapter 2 and 3.
6:37
In actuality, the entire Book of Revelation was given to the
6:41
seven churches. And for what purpose?
6:47
You know what I admire about John?
6:49
And by the way, this is John the Apostle.
6:51
He doesn't need to explain who he is.
6:52
He expects these churches to know.
6:54
Oh, it's that John, the same John wrote the Gospel of John,
6:59
the same John who wrote the first, second and third epistles
7:03
with his name on it. And I admire John's writing
7:07
style because in his major pieces of literature he gives
7:13
his spirit inspired goal, the intent, the purpose of why he
7:17
wrote what he wrote. So many of you know John chapter
7:21
20, verse 31 in his Gospel account, but these are written
7:25
so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of
7:29
God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
7:35
So John wrote the Gospel of John according to his own words so
7:38
that those who would read it would believe and be saved.
7:44
That's why many people advise curious spiritual seekers, truth
7:49
seekers, to read the book of John of all books, because they
7:53
know that this is the intent of its content, that you may
7:56
believe and be saved. What about John's first letter,
8:01
First John? Does he tell us what that's for?
8:03
Yes, in first John 513 he says these things have been written
8:09
to you who believe. For what purpose?
8:14
For you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you
8:17
may know that you have eternal life.
8:21
So now John gives his first epistle to those who have
8:25
already believed so that they would be sure and secure in
8:30
their salvation. The Gospel John of John is for
8:33
those to be saved. The first epistle of John is for
8:36
the saved to be certain that they are saved.
8:40
What about revelation? Does John give us any clue what
8:43
this book is about? I believe so.
8:46
It's in the words of Jesus. In the 22nd chapter and the
8:49
seventh verse, Jesus says, behold, I am coming soon.
8:55
Blessed is he who keeps the words of this prophecy, prophecy
9:01
of this book. So if the Gospel of John was for
9:06
readers to be saved first, John was for the saved to know that
9:09
they're saved. I believe the Book of Revelation
9:11
was written for the people of God to be encouraged and
9:15
prepared for the Savior's return.
9:19
If one of the reasons why you're not attracted to the Book of
9:21
Revelation is because you don't think it has practical
9:24
relevance, I say this in kindness.
9:25
You are mistaken, greatly mistaken.
9:30
There are things that we are to keep in this book.
9:33
There are challenges, there are comforts.
9:37
There are principles. There are obvious pieces of
9:41
wisdom. And I'm aware that many have
9:44
made revelation about creating charts.
9:46
I can guarantee you there's there's not going to be any
9:48
giant charts behind me. I'm not going to be pointing at
9:51
anything with a stick. And there are others who have
9:55
the Book of Revelation in one hand and the recent newspaper in
9:58
the other, and they're trying to show how recent events are
10:02
fulfilling the most specific aspects of the Book of
10:05
Revelation. We're not going to go there
10:06
either. We are going to approach the
10:09
Book of Revelation in the way it was intended to be received.
10:12
That you would be conformed and that you would be greatly
10:16
consecrated to the cause and person of Christ so that He can
10:19
find you and I the way He desires.
10:24
And John understood that. That's the power of
10:26
understanding the truths of the last days, the study of the end
10:29
times. I mean, we can go to so many
10:32
places in Revelation, but let me take you to his first epistle.
10:34
So turn with me to 1st John and look at chapter 3, beginning in
10:38
verse 2. First John 3, verse 2.
10:42
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not
10:46
yet appeared. But we know that when He
10:48
appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He
10:54
is. What is He describing?
10:56
The return of Christ, The consummation of the age, us
11:01
being reunited with Him face to face.
11:04
Now look what He says in verse 3.
11:05
And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is
11:09
pure. What hope is he speaking about
11:12
here? The hope of his return.
11:15
And notice what he underlines here, that the hope of his
11:18
return, the understanding of our uniting with Him at the end of
11:23
all things, purifies us. Not then, now, today, it
11:29
purifies you. I can guarantee you if we
11:33
approach the Book of Revelation rightly, every time we go
11:37
through a part of it, we will be more pure than when we started.
11:41
This is what John has in mind. That's a consensus in the Bible
11:44
that understanding the things of the last days will have present
11:48
day glorious implications. And confirming that this is a
11:53
letter also helps us know why it was written the way it was
11:58
written. I'm speaking about Revelation
12:01
because some erroneously think that Revelation is just this
12:04
giant puzzle that's reserved for brilliant minds to put together.
12:11
And so it's kind of overwhelming, right?
12:12
It seems so mysterious, but I can guarantee you something.
12:15
It becomes less mysterious when you realize that the symbols and
12:20
the images and the visions are not new necessarily.
12:25
They're actually repeated from other parts of the Bible, parts
12:29
of the Bible that Christians tend to overlook.
12:34
In fact, some have done internal investigation on this, and it's
12:38
a general understanding that out of the 404 verses in the Book of
12:42
Revelation, there are at least 278 references connected to the
12:51
Old Testament. Not quotations, but references.
12:55
And if we go with that number, though it's disputed, right,
12:59
then you can say that 68.8% of the Book of Revelation is
13:05
saturated with Old Testament references.
13:07
Almost 70% of the Book of Revelation echoes from the
13:12
Hebrew Scriptures. Do you see why it's you can't
13:15
ignore the Old Testament and just start in Revelation and
13:20
expect to get some kind of understanding.
13:25
And that doesn't even include the hundreds of allusions that
13:27
are made interwoven from beginning to end of this book.
13:33
I believe one of the main reasons people experience
13:36
irritation with the Book of Revelation is because they are
13:39
unfamiliar with the Old Testament.
13:41
And I believe much of the misinterpretation of the Book of
13:44
Revelation stems from the same neglect.
13:48
Here's what I'm trying to explain.
13:50
One of the most important key interpretive things that you
13:55
must do to understanding this book is to be familiar with the
14:00
Old Testament. The modern day Christian may be
14:03
very troubled and trying to make sense of this, but you know who
14:06
would have had greater ease? The seven churches that John
14:10
originally wrote to, assuming that they were biblically
14:13
informed. So I can just imagine that as
14:16
this book came into their possession, they would have
14:20
said, Oh yes, that's in Daniel, brother.
14:25
So and so. Didn't we learn this from the
14:27
writings of Zechariah? Isn't that almost a copy paste
14:32
from the scrolls of Isaiah? Unfortunately, because again, so
14:38
many rarely visit those neighborhoods in their Bibles,
14:44
they are overcome by discouragement with the Book of
14:46
Revelation. And you know what stirred me?
14:49
What I learned about the early church?
14:53
External evidence about Christians who were eager to
14:57
understand the Book of Revelation.
15:00
And the one source that especially struck me was from
15:04
one of the early church fathers, Irenaeus.
15:08
Irenaeus was born in 130 AD. He was a disciple of a man named
15:13
Polycarp. Polycarp, according to history,
15:17
was a leader in the Church of Smyrna.
15:20
Is that name sound familiar? It should.
15:22
It's in the Book of Revelation. It's one of the churches that
15:24
are addressed. Polycarp was a Bishop in that
15:26
church. And here's the best part.
15:29
Polycarp was personally tutored by John the Apostle.
15:35
So Irenaeus, who is discipled by disciple of John in book five of
15:42
his collection of writings called Against Heresies, says
15:46
something that has helped many modern scholars today to make
15:50
sense of the background of the Book of Revelation.
15:52
Let me quote it to you. Quote Aaron A says here.
15:55
Quote We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing
15:59
positively as to the name of Antichrist, for it were
16:04
necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this
16:07
present time. It would have been announced by
16:10
him who beheld apocalyptic vision.
16:11
Pause. Here's what he's saying.
16:13
Hey, let's not try to figure out who the Antichrist is, because
16:16
if John really wanted us to know, he would have told us.
16:19
But it's the last part that is so intriguing, he goes on to
16:23
say, For that was seen what was seen, that apocalyptic vision
16:28
for that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our
16:34
day towards the end of Domitian's reign.
16:39
Domitian was a Roman emperor who reigned between 81 and 96 AD.
16:45
And what we see here from Irenais is that the original
16:51
compilation of the Book of Revelation was made near the end
16:55
of Domitian's reign. So that's why most say that the
16:59
Book of Revelation was put together originally in 95 or 96
17:04
AD. Now, some dispute that.
17:08
Some want to actually advocate for an earlier date during
17:11
Nero's time. And so they say that people are
17:15
misunderstanding Iranians words here.
17:17
And maybe Erinace didn't even understand the timeline of
17:21
Domitian's reign. We're not here to figure that
17:23
out. All I want to remind you is that
17:27
the Book of Revelation was in the possession of the early
17:29
church in the 1st century. I don't know about you.
17:32
That fascinates me. It's amazing.
17:35
And back then they were discussing what's this about,
17:38
Who's this about, When is this going to happen?
17:40
They were having those conversations.
17:43
I can say more about that, but I want to move on.
17:47
It also humors me that with a book that most consider to be
17:51
very confusing, you have one of the clearest outlines of most
17:55
books in the Bible. John actually provides us an
17:59
outline of the Book of Revelation.
18:00
It's in Revelation one, verse 19.
18:02
Let's look at it together. He was told by the Lord Jesus
18:07
right there for the things that you have seen, those that are
18:13
and those that are to take place after this.
18:16
So the command of Jesus here highlights 3 parts in which John
18:20
was to organize his account. We have here the past that you
18:24
have seen and the past refers to the incredibly detailed vision
18:28
that he has of the glorified Christ in chapter 1 that you
18:31
have seen, chapter 1 me and then from the past.
18:36
Now we go to the present, those that are and the present deals
18:42
with the condition of the churches that he was addressing,
18:45
namely in Chapter 2 and in chapter 3.
18:49
And finally, the last section, those that are to take place
18:53
after this, the future and the future is spelled out for us
19:00
from chapter 4 to chapter 22, which is a majority of this
19:04
book, which is a great segue to the second purpose of
19:08
Revelation. I told you that we were
19:09
answering the question, what is the Book of Revelation?
19:12
Well, one, it's a letter #2 it is a prophecy.
19:17
It is a prophecy. Go to verse 3 of Revelation One.
19:21
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this
19:25
prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is
19:29
written in it. For the time is near.
19:32
Highlight the last part for the time is near.
19:35
It's confirmed back in verse 1, the revelation of Jesus Christ,
19:39
which God gave to show His servants the things that must
19:43
soon take place. The nature of this prophecy is
19:50
predictive. That may seem obvious to most of
19:54
us even have a basic understanding of Revelation, but
19:56
I'm here to tell you that there are other faithful Christians
20:00
who view this book differently. In fact, there are 4 common ways
20:07
that people approach the Book of Revelation, and though I can't
20:11
get into detail with each of them, I just want to give you a
20:14
general glance of how other brothers and sisters in Christ.
20:19
Would interpret this book so that you can just be aware and
20:23
be equipped and there might even be some people here who hold to
20:27
one of these views. And some of these views are more
20:29
popular than others. And I don't want you to get so
20:32
caught up in trying to memorize the titles of these views.
20:37
I want you to just at least have a general concept of them.
20:41
Here are the four common ways people approach the Book of
20:44
Revelation. The first approach is the
20:49
historic approach, and the historic aligns historical
20:53
events with that which is described in Revelation, in
20:56
essence, from the beginning of Revelation to the end of the
20:58
Book of Revelation, of this general timeline of the
21:01
development of the church. And so it's really about
21:04
different stages of the church throughout history from its
21:07
inception until the return of Jesus Christ.
21:11
And they try to look at this timeline and see where specific
21:15
predictions were fulfilled in history.
21:18
And so you have proponents, again, in the past who will look
21:22
at things like the fall of the Roman Empire and say, oh, this
21:24
is where Revelation predicted the fall or the invasion of
21:28
Islam in certain regions. Oh, this is where Revelation
21:32
spoke about that. And this view was especially
21:36
popular during the Reformation. Why?
21:41
Because you had so many of the believers there who viewed the
21:45
beast system in the Book of Revelation as the papacy, the
21:50
Roman Catholic Church. And so that was at its peak, I
21:55
believe, this view. But predictably, it declined in
22:00
its popularity over the decades. Why?
22:02
Because there wasn't a general consensus among these people.
22:07
They couldn't agree. And so this is probably the
22:11
least popular today. You're not going to find much
22:14
people who hold to this particular interpretation.
22:19
But we have also, secondly, the preterist approach, Preterist
22:24
approach. Preterism is from the Latin word
22:27
what is past. And so for the preterist, as the
22:30
name suggests, it is the belief that most of the Book of
22:33
Revelation has already been fulfilled.
22:35
Which parts exactly? From chapter 1 to chapter 20
22:38
generally, to which you may ask, when did they believe those
22:45
events were fulfilled? Answer the destruction of the
22:50
temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. And there are two main reasons
22:57
why people espouse this interpretation.
22:59
The first is what Jesus said shortly after he predicted the
23:02
fall of Jerusalem in Mark 13. We studied the book of Mark and
23:06
hopefully you remember that after Jesus prophesied the
23:09
destruction of the temple, he also followed it up with a
23:13
description, a brief one of the tumultuous events that will
23:16
follow that will describe the end of the age.
23:19
Wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines, the
23:24
growth of false teachers plaguing the earth, the
23:28
abomination of desolation, celestial signs, Christ coming
23:35
in great power and glory. Now, for most people, that seems
23:42
to be something Jesus is describing about the future, the
23:45
events that will immediately precede his return.
23:48
And what's amazing is what Jesus explains in the Gospels, the
23:51
Olivet Discourse, right? It's just the synopsis of what
23:55
Revelation talks about. Revelation just expands on
23:57
Jesus's predictions of the last days.
24:00
But there's a particular verse in Jesus's teachings that
24:04
preterist really hold on to that challenge, the understanding
24:07
that this is something yet to come.
24:09
It's in Mark 13. Let me remind you.
24:11
And look here in verse 30, Jesus said as he was concluding this
24:18
teaching, truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass
24:23
away until all these things take place.
24:27
Here's the argument How can the catalogue of catastrophes that
24:32
Christ describes be future if he said that they would happen
24:35
within his generation? And because the destruction of
24:39
the temple did take place within this time frame, preterists
24:43
would also reconsider how these other predictions should be
24:46
interpreted. So here's what they will say.
24:51
The description of the cosmic chaos, the global meltdown, the
24:55
universal alteration is just symbolic language illustrating
25:00
what took place in Jerusalem in 70 AD.
25:05
And they bring that kind of a lens into the Book of
25:07
Revelation. So when you come to Revelation
25:10
and you read of events impacting the world, it's not really the
25:12
world, it's Israel. When it talks about nations,
25:17
it's not really talking about nations, it's talking about the
25:20
nation of the Jews. When you see mentions of tribes,
25:24
the tribes of the earth, it's not really the tribes of the
25:26
earth, it's the tribes of Israel.
25:29
So for the preterists, all these prophecies center around what
25:33
happened in 70 AD, and the apocalyptic language is just
25:37
hyperbole to define the seriousness and the significance
25:41
of the judgment that fell upon them then.
25:45
And that bleeds into a lot, including this may shock you for
25:50
some preterists, what they find in Revelation 1911.
25:54
You know this passage very well, but let me read it anyway.
25:58
Revelation 1911. Then I saw heaven open, and
26:01
behold, a White Horse. The one sitting on it is called
26:05
faithful and true. And in righteousness he judges
26:08
and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of
26:10
fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name
26:14
written that no one knows but himself.
26:16
He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which
26:19
he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven,
26:23
arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on
26:26
white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp
26:29
sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule
26:33
them with a rod of iron, and he will tread the winepress of the
26:36
fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
26:38
On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of
26:40
Kings and Lord of Lords, the Preterist.
26:45
Some would come to this text and say this happened at 70 AD in a
26:52
phantom way, in an invisible way.
26:55
Jesus came in vengeance and he poured out God's wrath upon
27:00
those who rejected him. So this is quite interesting
27:06
because some might respond, wait a minute.
27:07
So do Preterist deny the physical bodily return of the
27:10
Lord Jesus Christ? And how does preterism explain
27:14
the transition from this age into the next age?
27:19
And I want to let you know that most preterists do believe in
27:22
the bodily return of Jesus Christ, but in a different way
27:26
than you might. And if we're not careful, this
27:29
can easily become an elaborate explanation of these viewpoints.
27:32
So I'm going to be brief here. But here's how they would
27:35
understand the return of Jesus, since the pinnacle of God's
27:37
judgement was known back in 70 AD.
27:40
What we can expect as the church with the Great Commission is
27:44
that the world is only going to get better and better and
27:46
better. Not worse, worse and worse, but
27:50
more improved. And so for preterist, they don't
27:53
just believe that most people at one point will become
27:57
Christians, but that even institutions and nations and
28:01
laws will be conformed to the law of God and the gospel.
28:06
And so it's really a complete takeover and the Millennium
28:09
reign is something that we as the church build.
28:13
And once we reach the golden age of the gospel and nations have
28:18
been discipled, then Christ will physically return, will rule and
28:22
reign forever and in a sense congratulate a successful
28:25
church. That is what preterism holds to.
28:30
And this is just again one of two main reasons why they have
28:33
this view. The second explanation, it's
28:35
because how John speaks of his events himself.
28:38
Let's go back to Revelation chapter one.
28:40
Look at verse one again, The revelation of Jesus Christ,
28:45
which God gave him to show to his servants the things that
28:48
must soon take place. He made it known by sending his
28:53
Angel to his servant John. Look at verse 3.
28:56
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the the words of this
28:58
prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is
29:00
written in it for the time is near.
29:03
OK, that's the beginning of the book.
29:05
Now you go to the end of the book.
29:06
Look at chapter 22 verse 10. John was told and he said to me,
29:10
do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book for the
29:14
time is near. If John said soon that it must
29:21
mean soon. 2000 plus years does not sound like the time is near.
29:28
So the preterist would believe that these things John spoke of
29:31
must have happened soon after he completed this letter.
29:37
Remember I told you how Irenaeus was a clue for people to believe
29:41
that the Book of Revelation was written in what, 95 AD?
29:46
Most preterist would challenge that and they would say no, no,
29:49
I had to be in the 60s when Nero was reigning and persecuting.
29:53
Why? Because if John wrote this after
29:56
70 AD, then how is this prediction about the fall of
30:01
Jerusalem in 70 AD had to have happened before 70 AD?
30:06
So that's why you have some who will challenge Irenaeus as a
30:10
source for dating this book. That's all I'll say about
30:13
preterism for now. And then these viewpoints, we're
30:16
going to maybe touch on them as we go through this book.
30:19
But let me add one more thing. Everything that I just described
30:22
to you, I hope this doesn't confuse you.
30:25
Everything that I just described about preterism is what?
30:31
Partial preterist belief? You have a fringe of preterism
30:36
called full preterist. What do they believe?
30:39
Everything in Revelation has been fulfilled.
30:43
Everything. The eternal age, the return of
30:47
Christ, our resurrection heaven, everything.
30:54
That's dangerous. That's false teaching in my
30:57
books. But even partial parts like no,
31:00
no, no, we're not those guys. Just to make you aware.
31:04
They're out there. I've had somebody, when I was
31:07
walking in the faith early on, challenge me as a full
31:09
preterist. I had a lot of questions.
31:14
Let's go to the third approach. Remember, there's four
31:16
approaches to interpreting the book.
31:17
Let's go to the third. We dealt with the historical
31:20
view. We dealt with the preterist
31:22
view. Now, which is probably the most
31:24
familiar to us, the futurist approach, the futurist approach,
31:30
the futurist interpretation views Revelation in the exact
31:34
opposite way of the preterist. If the preterist believes that a
31:38
majority of the Book of Revelation has not has been
31:40
fulfilled, rather the future says most of it has not yet been
31:44
fulfilled. And these events are still to
31:48
come to be realized near the end of the world, at the end of the
31:52
world, in a future period called the Tribulation, which will
31:57
immediately precede the Second coming, the establishment of
32:00
Jesus, earthly reign and the eternal age.
32:03
That's what the futurist holds to.
32:04
And this is the most important thing about those who are
32:07
futurist. Don't you love labels, Futurist?
32:12
Futurists argue that a consistently literal and plain
32:17
interpretation of the Book of Revelation is necessary in order
32:21
to understand it. So futurists will say, look, you
32:25
have to honor the rules of grammar, and you got to stay
32:27
consistent with the historical framework, and you have to
32:30
consider the context in order to determine your conclusions.
32:34
So futurists will try to take the Book of Revelation as
32:36
literally as possible, but they do not deny figurative or
32:41
symbolic imagery. What they are reluctant to do,
32:45
though, is to stretch metaphors or spiritualize passages.
32:53
Any other view apart from the futurist finds great liberty in
32:56
allegorizing the Book of Revelation, making it sound or
33:00
be something that doesn't seem to be the case.
33:02
And it's literal. Understanding The futures,
33:04
though, it's like, no, no, no, we got to honor this as plainly
33:07
as possible, as clearly as possible.
33:10
And that's what they do. And that's why they arrive to
33:11
the conclusions that they arrive to.
33:14
And though, again, I do not like labels, if there was one that I
33:18
did favor, it's this one. And that's how we're going to be
33:21
approaching the Book of Revelation from a futurist
33:23
approach. Why?
33:27
Because John was told to write about the future, and the events
33:31
that he describes have not yet happened.
33:35
Unless you analyze it allegorically, then it could
33:38
really mean anything. But if you take it literally, if
33:42
you take it plainly, then you have to be honest and say, yeah,
33:45
there isn't any time in history where we see these kind of
33:48
events taking place. There might be similarities,
33:51
there might be some overlap, but as you're going to discover, the
33:53
intensity and a universal impact is unprecedented.
34:01
Let me give you some examples. Go to Revelation 8, verse 8.
34:05
This is under the series of the trumpet judgments.
34:08
We'll explore that. I don't know when, but we will
34:13
in Revelation 8, verse 8. Notice what happens after one of
34:16
these trumpets are blasted. The second Angel blew his
34:21
trumpet and something like a great mountain burning with fire
34:25
was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.
34:30
1/3 of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the
34:34
ships were destroyed. A future to say we're talking
34:39
about a real thing, an object from the heavens that crashed
34:42
into the water and it actually killed animals and it actually
34:46
destroyed infrastructure. Anything beyond the futurist
34:51
would allegorize this passage. They would spiritualize it.
34:55
OK, let's look at another example.
34:56
Look at Chapter 9. We're still under the trumpet
34:58
judgments. And look at verse 18 of
35:00
Revelation 9. By these 3 plagues, 1/3 of
35:07
mankind was killed. That's a lot of people by the
35:13
fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.
35:18
So again, a futures would say 1/3 of mankind means 1/3 of
35:21
mankind. Other approaches would say no.
35:27
This might actually mean it's just really a symbolic picture
35:31
of how throughout history God has judged nations and he's
35:35
allowed for devastations and great loss.
35:38
And if anything, this also shows God's grace because it's only a
35:42
third and not the complete picture.
35:46
Which brings me now to the final approach to the Book of
35:51
Revelation, the idealist approach, the idealist approach.
35:57
The idealist approach differs from the first 3 and that it
36:00
refuses to identify any particular historical events.
36:05
It doesn't look for institutions, it doesn't look
36:07
for people with the visions of this book in mind.
36:10
It doesn't do any of that. Revelation to the idealist, is a
36:16
symbolic representation. It's a poetic parable.
36:20
It's a figurative drama that depicts the ongoing struggle
36:25
between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of the darkness in
36:28
good and evil, between the church and everything that
36:32
opposes the church and the gospel.
36:34
That's the idealist approach. And so it's not a timeline of
36:37
anything. It doesn't deal with history
36:40
past. It doesn't deal with the future
36:42
to come. It's just really a collection of
36:45
windows that we get to look through to give us
36:48
encouragement, to know that in the end the church and Christ
36:51
will be victorious. And in some of these windows
36:54
you're going to get moral lessons.
36:56
And really the final window is how Christ will come back, rule
36:59
and reign forever. We will be successful, we will
37:02
win. So they're not looking for
37:05
anything, they're just seeing this as a book to bless the
37:10
believers that were originally written to who were enduring
37:13
persecution. And we get to benefit from that
37:16
as well-being the church. So it's all symbolic.
37:23
It's to communicate the victory of Christ in a more robust and
37:27
enriching way. It's one thing to say Satan will
37:30
be defeated, evil will cease, but when you include imagery
37:34
like Dragons and swords and the lake of fire and explosions and
37:38
all these things, it just kind of hypes you up a little bit
37:41
more. It does something to you more
37:44
emotionally. It excites you on a different
37:46
level. That is how the idealist views
37:49
the Book of Revelation. So they'll teach this.
37:52
And you know, I was interested actually knowing in advance that
37:55
at some point we were going to touch on this book.
37:57
I thought, you know, I'm going to listen to brothers in Christ
38:01
who are idealist and how they teach through the Book of
38:03
Revelation. So I've been listening to series
38:06
in the Book of Revelation from those who believe this.
38:08
And I want to give you just an example of how they might look
38:11
at some of the details, right? Some will just overlook the
38:14
details altogether. They'll just look at the whole,
38:16
they'll kind of look at the main idea.
38:18
This is about suffering in the world.
38:19
This is about God's call to repentance.
38:21
This is a picture of God's wrath.
38:24
But one of them actually went a little bit deeper and it really
38:28
interested me. So if you go to Revelation, I
38:30
want you to see what I heard in chapter 6 in verse 5, this is
38:42
when the seals were opened, the scrolls were open, the initial
38:47
set of judgments. And look what we read here in
38:50
the third seal, verse 5. When he opened the third seal, I
38:54
heard the third living creature say come, and I looked and
38:58
behold, the Black Horse and it's rider had a pair of scales in
39:02
his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a
39:04
voice in the midst of the four living creature saying a quart
39:08
of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a
39:11
denarius and do not harm the oil and wine.
39:16
So if you look at this from a literal standpoint, what do you
39:18
have here that there's going to be a judgement released upon the
39:21
earth that's going to affect the global economy and certain goods
39:25
will be impacted, while certain other goods will actually be
39:28
intact. So again, you're seeing this as
39:31
a plain depiction of something, prediction of something.
39:36
The idealist wouldn't see it that way.
39:38
Again, nothing in Revelation has any connection to any point of
39:42
history. And So what I heard was, no, no,
39:45
this is describing a spirit that has been on the earth from the
39:49
beginning, has been released. And what the spirit does, it
39:52
convinces people to pursue things that they don't need
39:58
while neglecting the things that they do need.
40:01
So what do you need? Wheat, barley.
40:04
That's for your sustenance, that's for your survival.
40:07
Oil and wine, that's more luxury.
40:09
And what the Spirit does is convinces people you need these
40:14
things that don't really matter while you are starving.
40:17
The things that do matter, namely the truth, a relationship
40:19
with Christ, the gospel. I don't want to offend anybody,
40:24
but that's a stretch. And it's like, where where's the
40:29
limitation on this? You can make anything, say
40:32
anything then. And that's why I think it can be
40:35
dangerous. So you just heard briefly the
40:38
four common approaches to interpreting the Book of
40:42
Revelation. And I want to encourage
40:44
everybody here. Let me say this at this point,
40:47
you may hold to one of those views.
40:48
You may not hold to the futurist approach.
40:51
And I get it. The futurist approach has not
40:53
developed the greatest reputation either has its own
40:55
weaknesses. And I think one of the
40:57
weaknesses of those who believe that all these things, most of
40:59
these things are still to come is that it has inspired
41:01
sensationalism. People want to make everything
41:05
seem like it's in the Book of Revelation and they they missed
41:08
the point, which I'm going to get to as we close in a moment
41:10
here. But for every person here, I
41:13
want to let you know that it's going to be, by the grace of
41:16
God, my duty to try to make the Book of Revelation as
41:19
understandable and as clear as possible.
41:22
I'm not here to impress you with anything, with any lingo.
41:25
I can't even pronounce some of these words.
41:27
I myself can't. So I'm, I don't impress myself.
41:32
I just want people to leave here with a greater relief.
41:36
That book is amazing. Wow.
41:41
Can I ask something of you as we go through this book?
41:45
I'm sure we're going to talk about it in fellowship.
41:47
I'm sure you're going to take some of these points and relay
41:50
it to others, maybe message others, call others.
41:52
Depends how much this means to you.
41:54
Can we journey through this in humility please?
42:00
The church has disagreed on some of these details, some of the
42:03
timing of these events since the beginning.
42:07
And we want to be a church that can say on these non essential
42:10
matters. We all agree Christ is coming
42:12
back. He's going to rule and reign.
42:14
We're going to be with him forever.
42:16
We can have healthy, encouraging discussions about things that we
42:20
can debate over, but we should still be able to come here, look
42:23
at one another in the same Pew, lift our hands and our hearts,
42:26
and sing to the same Jesus. That's what we're doing here.
42:29
So I don't want us to go downstairs, and I don't want to
42:32
hear debates where people are throwing food at each other
42:36
because so many people have worked hard for that food.
42:38
And that's not the goal of the Book of Revelation being
42:40
studied. If you're going to have debate,
42:42
let it be in humility, let it be in joy, let it be in love.
42:48
We're still answering the question, what is the Book of
42:50
Revelation? It is a letter, It is a
42:52
prophecy. And lastly, it is a revelation.
42:57
Let's go to Revelation one verse one again.
43:06
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to
43:11
his servants the things that must soon take place.
43:14
He made it known by sending his Angel to his servant John.
43:19
If you didn't learn anything today, at least leave with this.
43:24
This is the Book of Revelation, not Revelations.
43:31
There's no S at the end of Revelation.
43:34
It's just the Book of Revelation 1 Revelation and it's the first
43:39
words of John where the title is derived from.
43:43
And in the original Greek the word is apocalypses.
43:47
Does that sound familiar? It's where we get the word
43:50
apocalypse from. Now, when you hear the word
43:53
apocalypse, what comes to mind? Nuclear wars, right?
43:57
The Earth melting, mountains plunging into the sea, people
44:02
losing their lives. Catastrophe, horrors.
44:06
That's not what apocalypse means.
44:10
Apocalypse simply means to uncover, to unveil, to reveal
44:17
the revelation, the revealing of Jesus Christ.
44:25
It's to make something that was once unknown known, something
44:28
that was hidden, now seen. And the object of this
44:33
revelation is Christ. It's as though John is saying
44:36
you're going to see something, you're going to see a side of
44:40
Jesus of Nazareth that you didn't see in the Gospels and
44:44
that you couldn't picture in his apostles letters.
44:49
We're going to remove something concerning Christ that you've
44:53
never seen before. I will admit this.
44:58
When I was young, Revelation intrigued me.
45:01
Remember when I told you that I was looking at it in the Pew?
45:05
I was terrified, but I was curious at the same time.
45:09
I mean, the pastor preaching must have thought this young
45:10
child, he's a prodigy, he's reading the Bible while I'm
45:12
preaching, following me. No, no, no.
45:14
I was just trying to understand what I was looking at.
45:16
Nothing related to the sermon, to my shame, but I'll say this,
45:22
even after that moment, being familiar with some of the truths
45:26
of Revelation, I've always been intrigued early on because I
45:30
said something about the future and it seemed like these codes
45:36
that if you prayed hard enough and read up on history enough,
45:39
you can kind of crack some of them.
45:42
But after I got saved especially and especially after I got
45:47
mature in the Lord and still maturing in the Lord, the thing
45:50
that captivates me the most about the Book of Revelation is
45:53
Jesus is Christ. That's what excites me about
45:59
Revelation more than anything else.
46:02
This book is about Jesus in Revelation One.
46:08
He's the living one who has conquered death forever.
46:14
In Revelation 2 and three. He's a purifier of his church in
46:18
Revelation four and five. He's the theme of Heaven's
46:20
worship. In Revelation 6 to 18, he is the
46:24
perfect righteous judge that patiently calls sinners to
46:30
repent. In Revelation 19, He is the
46:33
coming King who will Vanquish and defeat Satan.
46:38
Sin forever In Revelation 20 he is the promised seed of David
46:44
who would declare to the universe that he kept his word
46:48
by ruling and reigning on the earth.
46:51
In Revelation 21 and 22, he is the bridegroom who has come to
46:54
rescue his church and to dwell with us forever.
46:58
The book is about Jesus, and the issue is if you approach this
47:04
text so focus on small details of the visions and try to match
47:08
current news headlines with the book's predictions, and you miss
47:11
Christ in the process, you miss the purpose of the book you did.
47:20
If you care about knowing more about Jesus, you will care about
47:24
the Book of Revelation. So here's a summary of what the
47:29
Book of Revelation is. The Book of Revelation is a
47:32
prophetic letter that depicts the current and coming glory of
47:37
Jesus Christ and the descriptions of the awesome
47:41
implications of it. The Book of Revelation is a
47:45
prophetic letter that depicts the current and coming glory of
47:48
Jesus Christ and the awesome implications that come with it.
47:54
Are you ready? Let's pray.
48:05
Lord, we thank you that you've allowed us as a church to come
48:10
to this point in our growing knowledge of who you are.
48:16
And we do pray, Lord, that our hearts would be humbled, that we
48:21
would approach this with gratitude and love.
48:25
That if the fruit of this study would be anything, yes, the
48:28
knowledge of you, greater worship for you.
48:31
But Lord, would it also bring us closer together?
48:34
Would it inspire Christlikeness? Well, we do pray that you
48:38
protect us as we study this truth.
48:40
That you keep us from dangers, That Lord, you would keep our
48:43
hearts pure, You would keep our hearts hungry.
48:47
And that, Lord, we would be able to end the study should you
48:50
tarry being more in love with Christ.
48:56
We asked Lord that for any disagreements, Christ like us
49:02
will still be seen in our conversations.
49:05
It would be felt in our dialogue.
49:09
And Lord, lastly, help us see your Son Jesus Christ from
49:14
chapter 1 to chapter 22. Help us, Lord, as we go through
49:18
this, not get sidetracked, not get swept up by anything else
49:23
with whatever portion of this book we cover.
49:24
We pray that Christ would be on our minds.
49:28
And so, Lord, we just as a church, ask for you to be our
49:32
guide. And Lord, we sing to you now
49:35
because we've tasted your goodness.
49:36
Even in this brief overview of this glorious text, we thank
49:40
you. We worship you in Jesus name,
49:44
Amen. Let's stand and worship the Lord
49:46
together, shall we?