Latest / Journey Elgin / Sunday Message 10/11/26- The Power Behind Revelation 1

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Sunday Message 10/11/26- The Power Behind Revelation 1 · Journey Elgin

• riverside edit 02 phillip journey church of e: All right. So we are gonna be wrapping up our our series that I provocatively titled We're in the end game now, right? Just designed to kind of get people to think, things like that. If you've noticed, I I haven't really even mentioned the word revelation through this whole time. right? this wasn't designed to be a study on revelation. I will tell you, we probably starting this Wednesday, if you if you follow in our app or on YouTube, or you can follow Tom, his ministry was kind of put on hold for a little bit, but his ministry is called Redeemed Idiot. I've always felt the need to explain that and and Tom explains that, you know, that because we all can be idiots, right? We can know what we should do and we still don't do it, right? But guess what? We're redeemed, right? that that God redeems us anyway. I I used to feel like I needed to sh you know, kind of explain that, but after showing that picture, I think we all understand what the I Yes, I I y I I I know. So we're we're I you know w I I I think we're gonna end service today, everyone in prayer, and then I will just magically be gone. And then everyone else. But I say all that I I actually that that joke just kind of popped into my head. So I I don't know whether it came from God or somewhere else, but it just popped in there. I am being serious that he has a a ministry that is called Redeemed Idiot. You can follow him on YouTube and things like that. And and he has spent a ton of time looking at Revelation, but but not just Revelation, how it applies to the whole of scripture, right? And how it makes a dip difference to to redemption and the story of of God's redemption. we are going to be kind of doing a catch up for the next ten Wednesdays. We're gonna kind of summarize some of the things that he has been teaching and then in January he'll start the Wednesday night again. So you can again follow that on YouTube, on our in our little journey Elgin Church app or or our YouTube page as well. but but I I say all of that. There is a place to go deep into revelation. Right. And in fact, I think I think it's part of the spiritual battle that it it's become so confusing and so controversial that we kind of just stay away from it. Right. however, it actually, if you approach it correctly, it brings so much hope and it removes fear rather than causing fear. And and so the next couple of weeks, we're gonna do just a a kind of a a big high level look at where we are now. And so when I use that phrase, we're in the end game now, does that mean that we're actually in the end times? Here's something interesting. Here's why I think this is important to at least address. Right, and and and I mean, y'all known me long enough and And known what we're trying to do here at Journey, we try to be as relevant as possible to October 11th, 2026, right? and and you know what's what's going on today, you know, how do we view that through a biblical worldview, right? and one of the ways that that we you know try to do that is to be to apply the whole Body of scripture. And that includes even the confusing parts. But we need to understand a little bit of history. And so bear with me. You may feel like this is a little bit of a classroom setting, but I I like to do that because frankly, we we have more access to knowledge than we've ever had in the history of the world. And yet I think. We're all dumber, right, as a society, right? We because we're not we're not using history and then applying it to today, right? Like, like if we knew history, we would know why it could should be a little concerning that Islam is the fastest growing religion in over half of the states in the United States. Like if we knew history, we'd go, there's other places that this has kind of happened. How did it end out for them? Right? And maybe we'll be different. Maybe history will change. But maybe we should at least know history. That's right. So that's why I do sometimes spend time on what seems to be educational type stuff. But when it goes comes to end times, I I want to ask the question, and this is always dangerous to do, but I I think I'm gonna know the answer. In the last five years, have you had a conversation or if you had someone ask you? something about, you know, could it be that we're in the end times? How many of you have had a conversation, had someone just randomly come up to you and and say, or or, you know, c conversations that you have. Right? I I've had n like, you know, people who are nurses in in hospice I've had come up to me that that don't really have a whole lot of a strong faith that I know of come up and go, you know, what Do you think that we could be getting close to the end? Right? And here's the thing. That question has been asked before. It's it's actually not more prevalent now than at other times because it rises and falls with different events. Right. and but right now, Pew Research, which they're actually pretty good, they do lots of polling and can like asked consistent questions and things like that over now decades. So so you can kind of compare. in 2022, it said that thirty-nine percent of US d adults said humanity is living in the end times. That's like nearly forty percent, right, of of of Americans, American adults. forty seven percent of Christians and sixty three percent of evangelical Protestants. That's a term We essentially are evangelical Protestants. it's a it's a broad category. But so so people similar to us, like sixty three percent were saying, yeah, you know, this this could be, right? But then also it's funny, only ten percent that thought Jesus would definitely or probably return in their lifetime. So everybody is kind of like, yeah, it feels like the end times, but I don't know if it's really gonna happen in my lifetime, right? Because there's so much con confusion about this. And as I have been more and more trying to look and take big pictures of of what's going on in the world and seeing, hey, things, we need to understand there is this spiritual battle going on that causes deception. That that there just as there is a force that got God is trying to draw us all to him, there's also a force that is trying To keep us away from him. And confusion is a wonderful tool, right? And so whenever you think about revelation and end times, isn't that a perfect place just to throw tons of confusion out, right? So that we miss what God may actually be doing, right? So that we miss the opportunity to tell people, hey, look at what just happened. You know what? The Bible kind of said that 2,000 years ago. That's a great tool for sharing Christ with people. But if you just confuse the whole subject, then no one enjoys paying attention to it, right? And dismisses it all. So let's let's understand how did we get to such a confusing place? Well, for the most part, it's because one of the most dangerous things that we can do is to take things that are currently happening. And then try to force them into revelation, right? And say, this is happening. So let me go back and read and see where this fits. That that's a that's a bad way to do it. Unfortunately, that's how most have done it for the last 2,000 years. Right? So so you will get so many different ideas and viewpoints. I want to do some high-level, here's some different viewpoints of how people will view Revelation, right? The there's there's basically four categories and then there's tons of categories within those. And again, we're not going to get real detailed here, but just big picture stuff. There is a historical view that Revelation is kind of laying out the history of the church. Right? that that's a a view that led to a lot of people trying to predict dates, right? You may have heard of Hal Lindsey. Back in the nineteen seventies. He had the I think it may have been the biggest selling book in the seventies, sold sixty million copies or something like that. And basically he was saying that he had calculated that the end was going to be happening in the eighties. And you know, we're just continuing to go on, right? But but but I I think he was he was wrong. That but But that he was kind of coming at it from, the Bible is spelling out all of this history and he was being way too specific. Right? It's like, we can we can nail down an exact an exact time, right? That's a a dangerous way. But there are those who kind this view is kind of mostly moved on because people have messed it up. But going back to the eighteen sixties, the Millerites, if you want to do a a little s search on them. It was a whole community that they believed that Christ was going to come again. What was going on around the eighteen sixties? Civil war, right? Makes sense, right? Outside circumstances. So then you start reading into things into Revelation. So there was this community thought, man, Christ has got to come. It can't get worse than this. Right? And and but again, they were wrong, or we're way more messed up than we we can imagine. If they were right and we are a simulation. you know what's funny, I joke about that. There are actually people who debate whether we are or not. Right. And yeah, we're not gonna go down that rabbit hole. But so so you have this historical view that it's kind of laying out history. Then you have what is called, and this is I hate this word, preterist. Okay. Basically what that means is that. most of revelation and most of prophecy in the Bible has already all been fulfilled. And there's there's a a couple of paths. Some who believe this believe that yes, Jesus will still come again. But none of the prophecy stuff, none of revelation is really pointing to that. They and what they'll do is they'll connect that, man, this is all very simplified. And so if you If someone believes this and you kind of act like you know what they're talking about, they're they're gonna just throw out so much more than what I am here. But they believe that in seventy AD, when Rome tore down the temple, right? And so it would have been the temple that Jesus was in, the temple where he overturned the the tables, things like that, right? In seventy AD, so this would have been, you know, thirty years, a little over thirty years after Jesus rose from the dead. Rome did destroy the temple. And then about fifty years later or so, Ballpark, they actually basically pushed the Jewish people out of Jerusalem. I mean, it you know, that there was and and then that led a period of about 2,000 years where there was no people of Israel. They had just been scattered everywhere. Okay. So there are those that believe that all of the prophecy was talking about that date. All right. And and In fact, there are some that actually believe that Jesus returned on that day and that we are actually living now in like the the millennium, the post the church age. It's you know, so so we're after the we're in the millennium after Christ has already returned again. That's crazy, in my opinion. I don't the it doesn't nothing in scripture supports that. But there are those, and these are these are Christian people. And so this is not a salvation issue all the time, all right? But but it can be very destructive having these viewpoints. So that is one that's that is out there that believes pretty much everything in Revelation has already been been fulfilled. then there is the idealist, the symbolic, some call this all millennialism, that basically everything in Revelation is symbolic. It's symbolic of the battle between good and evil. it's symbolic of now we are in the church age, right? This is this is for the most part the Catholic view, right? and they they're not going to deny that Jesus will return again, but that everything in Revelation and stuff like that, it's not really pointing us to anything literal. It's all just symbolic about kind of the spiritual dynamics in the world. Does that kind of make sense? And and I I under understand that. I probably would have leaned more that way until you know the last five to ten years. And and it's c sometimes it's kinda like, you know, maybe maybe we should read this and we should just take it for what it says. Right? So if that leads to a fourth view. So we have the historical view, we have the pre-view of the preterist, right? That it's all been fulfilled already. Then we have that it's just kind of a a a spiritual symbolic language that just tells us about how the good and evil work. Right. And then there's what's called the futurist view, which is that revelation is telling us about something that's going to happen. Right? interestingly, and there'd be people who will disagree with this, but Some of the earliest church fathers, right? you know, in the one hundreds, they had a future view, right? They actually said, yeah, Revelation seems to point to to what is going to be happening, right? And and it's it's very interesting because they were looking at their their times and they had seen the the temple be destroyed. Right? one of the names, if you ever want to look up, Irenaeus is his name, right? He he had seen the temple be destroyed. He's the one, he he is firm that John wrote the book of Revelation after the temple was destroyed. Right? And that is the common understanding that John wrote Revelation in the nineties, right? And the temple had already been destroyed. So it it's really hard to say that everything had already been fulfilled and then Then what was the purpose of the book of Revelation if it had already all been fulfilled, right? And and so we have this picture early on that, yeah, this is pointing, God's kind of letting us know. So here's here's what's coming, which maybe that's important for us to at least take seriously, right? Well, then things started to change, right? Because one of the things, and this is we have talked about this, the relationship between Christians and Jews, right? What happened is the Jewish people basically were just completely dispersed. And so if you just read a plain reading of scripture of the Old Testament in Ezekiel and Daniel and then in Romans in the New Testament, it indicates that there is going to be some sort of a reconstituting of the people of Israel. Right? Now, so you can imagine in the year 200 and 300, you've seen this people group basically get completely dispersed. And so you read those things and it's like, there's no way that can happen anymore. Rome just got rid of Israel. There's no way they're coming back. So you start to think, okay, we must not be understanding that right. Does that make sense? And so let's go let's let's interpret this a little bit differently. Well, then you get the Catholic Church around 400, 500 AD. And they are they they are they they are very big on that, hey, we are. the the new Israel essentially, right? That God used to work through the people of Israel. Now he's working through the church. Okay. And we talked about this in our r r whenever we looked at our relationship, Christian relationship with Jewish people. Well, you have to be really careful of that because the the Bible literally says that the Jewish people are the root, right? And it says that they're going to be scattered. But it also says that they will be reconstituted. That doesn't mean that this current nation of Israel is exactly that. We can debate all of that, but scripture clearly made this statement that, hey, no, the Jews and Israel is going to have another place. Well, the Catholic Church, they didn't see that. The only vehicle now that people saw God was through the church. Right? So they are that's why they started having this symbolic. This omillenal view that, it's just really about the battle between good and evil, and it just kind of shows us that a little bit, right? Then, very interesting. When the Protestant Reformation happens, all right. So if you know what the Protestant Reformation is, that's when a guy named Martin Luther, he was really upset at the Catholic Church and he was like, No, it's all we're saved through grace, not not through any works, right? And and he gets mad and he nails something up on the the I can't remember where he nailed it. This is the 99 thesis, but he nailed it somewhere over there in Germany. And and it caused a split, major split, right? People start burning each other at the stake. It was not not great, right? But in that time, you started to see this view that, wait, there is gonna be an antichrist, and he's who? The Pope, right? Because the Protestants hated the Catholic Church. Sure, didn't like the Pope, right? And so all of a sudden start reading in. wait, this is this is probably talking about that the Pope is going to be the Antichrist, right? And it became very European focused. Right? And then and then that leads to us. And and you you start to all of a sudden in the late 1800s, there starts to be this large movement to reconstitute what nation? Israel. Right, that had been completely gone for two thousand years. And so now you start seeing people go, Well, wait. The Bible we used to believe a long time ago that the Bible indicated that there'd be a new Israel, if you will. And that didn't make sense at all because we hadn't seen it for seventeen hundred years. But now all of a sudden it's starting to happen. Right? And then you throw in some i I don't know if you've noticed, but the twentieth century. Which would be the 1900s. That always confuses me, right? It's like you have to subtract one. The 1900s. We think we think we're so enlightened, and we think that technology has made everything so much better. And we look back and we read old stories and we think, how barbaric. Those people are so barbaric. Yeah, the the 20th century is the deadliest century in the history of the world. The ideologies that I've been talking about. you know, of Islam and Marxism and those viewpoints, right? They have literally killed tens of millions of people in the 19th century alone. So you can imagine that some people are like, hmm, are we in the end game now? And then for the first time in 1900 years, you actually have this nation state called Israel. That's around Jerusalem. That guess what? Jerusalem is where Jesus was, right? It was and and also it's like, well, wait, maybe there's something going on here. Right? Do you see why there can be some confusion? And and and now we're in this place and and people dismiss it. People don't want it to because there's so many different interpretations out there, right? But the way that we approach Revelation is just take a step back. Let's just read what the scripture says. And everything that is in Revelation, we should be able to see it in other parts of Scripture. If Revelation truly is the end game, don't you think it's going to be wrapping everything up? And the answer is yes. But the way we've handled Revelation is with a lot of fear. Most people. When you talk about revelation, the first response is, that's a little scary. You know, if you read Revelation right, y you should not be fearful. You should be amazed at the power of Jesus Christ. And it is what gives us hope. It is why I do incorporate, I think it's important for us to look at the signs of the time. Because if not, we may miss the amazing things that God is doing. And so I I just want us to to to read Revelation chapter one. And again, this is written and it's given to a lot of churches. By the way, all the churches that it was given to, are those still Christian churches today? No. You th they now all are in Turkey. What is Turkey? It's a Muslim dominated country, right? So so none of these churches exist anymore. Starting off, the revelation Of who? Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. That that word soon, we think of that on a on a time thing. Like if if I say, yeah, we're yeah, pretty soon we're gonna go on you know go eat lunch. Well we all know that, okay, that's ten minutes from now, right? that's not really what this word is. It is think of it more as seasons, as times, right? So we are in the time. So the moment that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven, the stopwatch was started to when he's going to come back again. Right? And so it's it's going to be happening soon. We're in the season. Right. And so that that is what that is is is meaning. Says he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God, to the testimony of Jesus Christ. Even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear it and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. Isn't that interesting? He's literally saying this book should be a blessing to us. How do we view this book by and large today? Well, get it away from me. Right? Because it's too confusing. There's all these different views. It all so I'm just, I don't want to pay attention to it. But no, it it actually can be a blessing to us if we approach it correctly, right? And as says John to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you, peace from him who is, who was, and who is to come, from the seven spirits who are before his throne, from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, the ruler of the kings on earth. Wouldn't that be wonderful to hear as you're under Roman occupation, right? And under the Caesars? Just all these constant rem reminders. No, Jesus Christ is the true King. He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. And and throughout history, Christians have used that as hope because their government that causes the most destruction to humanity is governments. They have been doing it from for from the beginning, but he is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. To him who loves us, has freed us from our s from our sins by his blood. made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail, and on account of him, even so, amen. So many fun rabbit holes that you can go down. When it says, and it and it and even those who see him, who pierced him, will see him again. Who is that talking about? All the people who literally did that, most of them would have already been dead by the time of this writing. Right? So he's talking about something a little bit bigger. Which people group Crucified Christ ultimately. The Jewish people, right? Right? Because God used the Jewish people to accomplish his purposes. And so at the end, even those who have pierced him, the Jewish people, will see him. Right? That's kind of what that is is getting at. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord, who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. I, John, your brother, partner in the tribulation, kingdom, and patient and the patient endurance, two words that none of us like that are always put together in scripture. We have to endure and we have to be patient while doing it. That in Jesus what was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God, the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you have seen in a book and send it to the seven churches. To Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamon, to Thytira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea. All right. So I'm going to stop right there because this is this is to me just really important for us to understand. All of those verses, those, that's just reinforcing the message of who Jesus is. Right? And it's and and it's, hey, I'm John, I'm one of the apostles, I'm on Patmos now. I know who Jesus is. He's the Alpha and the Mega. He's the one that we've been proclaiming that died for you, that he is the King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Right. Now he's about to see something that is to take place. Right. So the language, everything starts to change a little bit here. And this is what he says that he saw. And this to me is what is one of the things that is so important for us as we navigate the uncertainty before us. Is understanding what John saw. It says, Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands, one like a son of man. All right, so he sees a figure. All right, remember, John knows who Jesus is. John saw Jesus. John walked with Jesus. But now he's being shown a vision. Of what is to come, all right, when when Christ is going to return again. So he sees this vision and he says, it's like, this is one like the Son of Man. You would think he would turn around and go, I saw Jesus. No, he's getting a different glimpse of who Jesus is. This is the full fulfillment of Christ. He's not coming back to get nailed on a tree again. All right. He's coming back to set things right. And this is this is important. So all of a sudden you see that one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe with a golden sash around his chest, the hairs of his head were white like white wool, like snow, his feet were like flames of fire, his feet were burnished bronze, refined with a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars from the mount and from his mouth came a sharp two edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, Fear not, I am the first and the last, the living one. I died, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the king keys of death. and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are, and that th those are to take place after this. All right. Listen, I could break down All of those things that John writes about this vision that he sees, this person that he sees, right? A long robe, golden sash, Exodus 28, Leviticus 16, describing the priestly garments, the white head, the head like wool, like snow, in Daniel 7-9, talking about the ancient of days, talking about the creator of the universe, talking about the God of God, the God who created all of this, the powerful God, the Yahweh, that the people knew was God. That's how they were described him in the Old Testament. Now John is seeing him using the same exact language. He is connecting all of Scripture together and he's centering it on Jesus Christ, who is returning and coming to make things right again. The eyes like the flame of fire. Right? We see that Daniel 10, 6. We see that in Ezekiel 1:7. The voice like many waters, we see in Ezekiel 43, 2, seven stars in his right hand. just talking about he's coming Everything is under his control. Continue his sharp two-edged sword from his mouth is Isaiah 11 4 49 2. Also in Hebrews, this idea of the word of God being penetrating like a sword. Like he is not coming to be nailed to a tree again. He is coming on offense, and he is going to punish the wicked. Amen. It is a different Jesus. Right? This is, and that's why John's like, yeah, he looks like the Son of Man, but I I'm a little uncomfortable here. Right? And so what does John do? He falls as though dead. We see that in Ezekiel, we see that in Daniel, that they fall before the Lord. They're just in awe, they know that they are so insignificant to the creator of the universe that that they are completely. Completely at his mercy. And then what does the one like the Son of Man do? He reaches down, puts his hand on John's shoulder, says, Get up, don't fear. Why? Because I'm the one that you know as Jesus. I am the first and the last. I am the Alpha, the Omega. I am the beginning and the end. The keys of death and Hades. I control those. Who has the right to control those? Only the creator of the universe, only the one true God whose name is Jesus. And then everything else in Revelation hinges on, do you know who the Son of Man is? And we don't have to be in fear. In fact. We should be emboldened. We should be honored that it could be in our lifetime that the creator of the world dec decides to come back and to set everything right again. And that we may be able to be his messengers in that time. We cannot be fearful of the darkness. It sickens me that there are prayers to Satan going on in our country. I am not scared of that at all. What can man do to us? We serve the one who is the son of man, who is bringing a sword, who is going to hold everyone to account. And we need to pray for that person. Who is offering those prayers to someone that will lead him to eternal damnation? We need to pray that somehow his heart changes. And at the same time, we stand up and we call that darkness because it is darkness. Do not be fearful of what's to come. Next couple weeks we're going to talk about things that are literally different, that have never been this way in the past, that kind of point to we could be signs of the time. But we are not to be fearful. We are to be filled with hope. We are to be filled with the power of the resurrection. And we stand for what is right, what is true, and what is holy. And that is the one who is the Son of Man, who is returning again. And he's not returning to be crucified. He's returning to cast out evil. To punish the wicked, to bring his righteousness into the world as he desired it from the beginning. Let's go to him in prayer. Pacting his key