And it goes back to that part of the country
where a hibberly father sent his son off to college.
And his son came home on break to see Pa. And
Pa says, well, they're learning you there at
their college. He said, well, I'm taking English.
He said, what else are you learning? He said,
well, we're taking algebra. Pa said, well, say
something to me in algebra. Well, his son didn't
want to embarrass his hillbilly pa, who's very
proud. So he thought for a moment and he said,
Pi R square. And the hillbilly pa that jumped
out of his chair said, Is that what they're teaching
in that bar school? Everybody knows that pi are
round and cornbread are square. Boy, we didn't
fill it long enough. They haven't found the outline
yet. Did you hear the one? No. We'll open up
to Revelation chapter 1, and perhaps we'll come
up with the outlines yet. And if so, if whoever
finds them, pass them out, and there'll be a
prize at the end of the service. Revelation chapter
1. We're going to look at verses 1 through 8.
I'll be reading from the New King James Version.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave
him to show his servants, things which must shortly
take place. And he sent and signified it by his
angel to his servant John, who bore witness to
the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus
Christ and to all things that he saw. Blessed
is he who reads and those who hear the words
of this prophecy and keep those things which
are written in it. for the time is near. John,
to the seven churches which are in Asia, grace
to you and peace from him who is and who was
and who is to come and from the seven spirits
who are before his throne and from Jesus Christ,
the faithful witness, the firstborn from the
dead and the ruler over the kings of the earth.
To him who loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own blood. and has made us kings and priests
to his God and Father. To him be glory and dominion
forever and ever. Amen. Behold, he is coming
with clouds, and every eye will see him. And
they also who pierced him, and all the tribes
of the earth will mourn because of him. Even
so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, says the Lord, who is and who was
and... who is to come, the Almighty. This final
book in the Bible brings us full circle from
where the story begins in the book of Genesis.
In Genesis, the book opens with God, and as the
Bible closes, God is its final subject. In Genesis,
we have presented to us the first heaven and
earth. In Revelation, we have the new heaven
and the new earth. In Genesis, we find the story
of paradise lost. In Revelation, we have paradise
regained. Recall that in Genesis, we read about
a tree, a tree of life and a river. Genesis,
Revelation concludes talking about another tree
of life and a river. In Genesis, we have banishment.
from the garden, whereas in Revelation we have
invitation to come to the tree and to eat of
its fruit. Genesis tells us of the first husband
and wife. Revelation tells us about the lamb
and his bride. In Genesis we have Satan victorious,
but in Revelation we have Satan defeated. In
Genesis, we have judgment promised, and in Revelation,
judgment executed. In Genesis, we have the gates
shut when God closed up the garden so that Adam
and Eve could not reenter it. But as we come
to Revelation, we have a city where the gates
are never closed. In Genesis, death enters human
history, and in Revelation, death exits. In Genesis,
we have exiles from an earthly garden. In Revelation,
I presented the inheritors of a heavenly city.
And so the story comes full circle as we come
to the close of the Bible. There are two extremes
to beware of as you approach the book of Revelation.
One of them is to avoid Revelation. Saying that
it cannot be understood or that it's not practical
to study. The other extreme is to abuse Revelation.
To abuse it by fanciful interpretations and setting
of dates and that sort of thing. These extremes
of avoidance or abuse should be avoided. And
instead, we are to study this book. And why?
Well, because in the first place, it is the word
of God. And all scripture is given for our benefit,
including the book of Revelation. That it is
the word of God is witnessed to and attested
by Jesus himself. He validates this book in verse
2. It also reveals the culmination of the work
of our wonderful Savior. In Genesis, we have
his work predicted. But as we come to the book
of the Revelation, we have his wonderful work
culminated. And then, as the title for tonight's
message suggests, one reason to study the book
of the Revelation is because it promises blessing
to its readers, its hearers, and its readers,
in verse 3. Blessed is he who reads. And those
who hear the words of this prophecy and keep
those things which are written in it. Now the
outlines are being passed out. Thank you to whoever
found it. You can claim your prize at the end
of the service. And I'll not tell you yet what
it is, but it's wonderful. We have not surpassed
anything yet on the outline. All of this has
been introductory remarks, so don't worry about
that. We'll come to the outline in just a moment.
I want you to notice the three categories here
because it gives us some insight into how the
early church handled an epistle like this. And
remember, this is an epistle in that it's addressed
to some churches. This is much as Paul wrote
letters to churches. The churches are named.
There are seven of them in Asia Minor. Now, he
mentions, first of all, blessed are the leaders.
And so we understand from this that the custom
was in the early church for one person to stand
up and to read from the scroll. Now, this was
something like the Jewish custom in the synagogues.
The early church continued that. Of course, not
everybody had a copy. In fact, there were very
few copies. And so there was one who was assigned
the responsibility of reading, and blessing is
pronounced upon the one who would read what is
contained in the book of the Revelation. And
then those who hear. Obviously, that's everyone
who's gathered. And those who heed, that is,
those who put into practice the practical application
of the truths that are found in this book. It's
rather amusing when you hear people say, well,
I don't like to read Revelation because it's
not practical. There are some wonderful practical
applications in this book. And blessing is promised
to those who not only hear it, but who heed what
God has to say in this book. And so it's a key
book for the Christian to study. And it promises
blessing to those who do so. And tonight we're
going to look at the prologue of the book, which
means those introductory words, that first paragraph
that sets the stage for the rest of the book.
It's verses 1 through 8, and we've read that.
And now we come to the outline that you have
in your hands. It's the introduction that we
want to look at first tonight, the first three
verses, which introduce to us the book, and there
are several statements I'd like to make that
come out of these first three verses. that will
help us get an introductory understanding of
what this book is like. In the first place, it
is a book of apocalypse. Now, you may know how
to spell that, or you may not. You can substitute
the word revelation because it's the same idea.
The Greek word, though, is apocalypse, and that's
how John began writing. Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
The English word revelation. Apocalypse means
to take... the veil away from something. It is
to uncover, so as to expose what is hidden. It
is a manifestation of what was formerly secret.
And so God in this book is going to manifest
some things that have been hidden up to this
period of time. It is an apocalypse, a book of
revelation, of apocalypse. Now let me insert
here that in the day that John wrote this, there
was a genre of literature being written called
apocalyptic literature. There were writers who
would write books that were termed apocalyptic
for a period of two or three hundred years. This
was a very common genre of writing. And John,
in some way, picks up some of those ideas, those
ways of writing, would be a better way to say
it. And some have said that actually this book
is nothing more than somebody writing a book
like human authors in those days. Just another
apocalyptic book that happens to be in the New
Testament. But in fact... There are some significant
differences between the apocalyptic literature
of that day and this book of apocalypse. Among
them, and I'll just mention one, this book claims
to be the word of God. You can search through
all of the other apocalyptic books that remain
to our day that were written at that time, and
none of them make the claim that this book makes
to be, in fact, the word of God. It is a book
that is meant to be understood. Undoubtedly,
the first century believers were more familiar
with this style of writing than we are today
and could have perhaps understood portions of
it more clearly than we might, but we can grasp
what this book says. It is possible to understand
at least the big picture here because this book
is authored by the Holy Spirit. And he is sent
to be our teacher. Would he offer a book that
we could not understand and that he could not
illumine to our hearts? Of course not. He is
going to aid us and be our teacher. And that
is our confidence as we begin to study. It is
a book of apocalypse. Secondly, it is a book
belonging to Christ. It is said to be the revelation
of Jesus Christ, gave him to show his servants.
Isn't that interesting? So it is a book that
belongs to Jesus Christ, and the content of it
was given to him by God the Father. And notice
that he, the Lord Jesus then, showed it to his
servants through the work of an angel. It says
at the end of verse 1, And he sent and signified
it by an angel to his servant John. And so the
process of the book is this, that God the Father
gave this content to his son Jesus Christ, who
in turn committed it to an angel, who then gave
it to John. And then from John it has come to
us. But it is a book belonging to Christ. Thirdly,
we can say, from what is said in this introduction,
there's a book revealing Christ. That's tied
together with this idea that belongs to him.
It reveals him. It unveils him to us. For example,
in chapters 2 and 3, we see him as the head of
his church. And he walks among the golden lampstands,
and he speaks to each of the congregations. a
word of commendation and condemnation and instruction,
and we'll study that. So he is revealed to us
as the head of his church. In chapters 4 and
5, he is revealed as the Lamb who was slain,
the Lamb of God who was slain and who is worthy
to open the seals that lead to the events that
fall out then from this book of Revelation. In
chapters 6 through 18, we see him as the instrument
of God's wrath as he opens the seals, which lead
then to the trumpets and to the bowls that are
poured out upon the earth, bowls and judgments,
bowls and trumpets and seals of God's wrath.
In chapters 19 and 20, he is revealed as the
judge of the nations, and he comes. to judge
the earth and to establish his kingdom. And finally,
in chapters 21 through 22, we see him revealed
as the eternal king. And so it is a book that
reveals Jesus Christ in these offices that we've
talked about and many others. Number four, we
see that it is a book of symbols. Now, the new
King James puts it this way. that he sent and
signified it by his angel. I think the NASV puts
it, he communicated it, but the signified really
does bring the idea, because another way to pronounce
the word that gets to what John really writes
is that he signified it. He signified it. That
is, he communicates through signs and symbols
the content of the book. And so it is an unusual
book. It's distinct from all of the other literature
of the New Testament. If you were going to compare
it to other books in the Bible, you might think
of Daniel, which uses a lot of symbolic language
and signs. You might compare it to Ezekiel, both
prophetic books as well. But here we have a New
Testament prophetic book, in fact, the only prophetic
book in the New Testament. And it is signified
to us. It involves signs and symbols. That doesn't
mean that words aren't used. Obviously they are.
But in the communication of its content, we will
see many signs and symbols. And as we pointed
out, these are mediated by an angel to John's
senses. Now whether John, there on the Isle of
Patmos, had a vision, and all of this unfolded
to him, But whether, in fact, he left the realm
of time and space and sought, took a trip into
the future, is not real clear. I rather think
the latter happened, that when it says in chapter
4, when Jesus says, a voice from heaven says
to John, come up here, that John is liberated
from this realm that we know. and is taken up
into the realm of the heavenlies, and from there
he sees and personally witnesses, not just by
vision, but he personally sees the events that
he describes through signs and symbols in this
book. It is a book, number five, with promises.
And we've seen the first one here. There are
seven Beatitudes in this book. As you know, Beatitudes
are blessings that are spoken. We're familiar
with the Beatitudes of Matthew, for example.
But here we have the first of seven Beatitudes
in the book of the Revelation. We'll talk about
them as we work our way through the book. And
number six, and finally, it is a book of actual
events. Now, some people, as they approach the
book of Revelation, say, my, my, you missed a
point here. These are events that took place
in the first century. And we ought not to expect
that there's anything in this book that is going
to be fulfilled in our day or in some future
period. These are events that John understood
that occurred right there in the first century.
It's all history. And then there are others who
approach the book and... and say that we should
look at it allegorically, that it's kind of an
ideal book. And so they read into the signs and
symbols all kinds of weird things. And then there
are others who say, well, no, actually this book
outlines history throughout this whole age. It
seems to me that the very best way... of understanding
the book is to let it speak for itself, to approach
the book with the idea of letting it literally
say what it says. And when we do that, we understand
that when it talks about a sign, it's literally
talking about a sign. When it describes Jesus
as a lamb, we ought not to picture him as a sheep
up in heaven. That's symbolic. But John saw something
literally, and he uses that symbol to communicate
to us what he saw in heaven. So we approach the
book literally, and when we do that, as we'll
get to in a couple of weeks, what will happen
is that we'll see that most of this book really
does talk about actual events that are yet to
come. Actual events that are yet to come upon
the earth. And Jesus says regarding these that
they must shortly take place in verse 1. Must
shortly take place. Not maybe, but they must.
There's absolutely no doubt that what John saw
is someday going to happen. And when he says
shortly take place, he doesn't mean that from
his day until they were fulfilled was a short
period of time. But the word that he uses means
that once these things begin to unfold, they
will unfold quickly. It will happen just like
that. And so, as I understand the book of the
Revelation, the way that we're going to approach
it in these months together, it is that there
are some things that, yes, refer to past churches,
chapters 2 and 3, but most of the book is on
hold. waiting for God's signal when these events
will then begin to very quickly unfold in human
history. Let us come to the salutation where
I take quite so long on this. In verses 4 and
5, we have the greeting. It is from John. And,
of course, there are liberal scholars who like
to argue whether this was John or not. From the
earliest traditions of the church, They simply
accepted what the book said, one of John the
Apostle's disciples said it was John who wrote
the book. There's all kinds of internal evidence
to say that John wrote the book, and so we accept
simply what it says, that the John who wrote
it was the Apostle John, the one of the Apostles,
the only one of the Apostles, as far as we know,
who was not martyred, but who died as an old
man. Now, he greets the readers with these common
words, grace and peace, a wonderful bicultural
expression, because grace is a Gentile concept,
whereas peace is Jewish. And so he addresses
the bicultural readers using words that would
be equally meaningful to them, grace and peace.
He says that grace and peace come from... The
Holy Trinity. Now, he doesn't use the word Trinity.
The word Trinity is not used in doctrine until
a couple hundred years after this. But the concept
of the triunity of God is very clear in these
verses. He says, grace to you and peace from
him who is, who was, and who is to come. Question,
who is he talking about? The answer is he's talking
about God the Father. And that will become more
clear as we go through the book and see the numerous
times when this very same phrase is used. Him
who is, who was, and who is to come is God the
Father. It speaks of the eternity of God. No
beginning, no ending. God always is eternally
existent. But then he mentions the seven spirits.
who are before his throne. It's a strange expression,
the seven spirits. And we immediately think of
the Holy Spirit, but what does it mean, the seven
spirits? Well, some understand this to mean the
sevenfold spirit, talking about the fullness,
the completeness, because the number seven symbolically
represents completeness. That is talking about
the fullness, the completeness of the ministry
of the Holy Spirit. And that may well be the
best way to understand it. But I like the thought
of Dr. Alan Johnson who writes that this name
represents the activity of the risen Christ through
the Holy Spirit to the seven churches. Now the
word, or the number seven is going to appear
over and over again. in the book of revelation
i didn't write down all the different times that
it's used but there are seven seals there are
seven trumpets there are seven bowls of wrath
there are seven final signs there are seven churches
here we have the sevenfold spirit of god and
so seven is a significant number in this book
and it It represents the fullness of something.
And here we have the fullness of the Holy Spirit's
ministry in the churches. And when we get over
to the letters, perhaps we'll have time to talk
a little more about that. But let me mention
now the third person of the Trinity that's mentioned,
verse 5. He says, and from Jesus Christ. Jesus
Christ. He mentions now a threefold. a description
of Jesus Christ. Notice what he says. He names
him first the faithful witness. Here, John is
pointing back to Christ's earthly ministry, his
life on earth as the faithful revealer of God's
revelation. And we see him here in his role as
the prophet. The one who would bring the word
of God. He delivers God's word in his earthly
life. The second name is the firstborn from the
dead. Here we have a description of his present
work as the risen lamb of God. The one who is
supreme in authority over all. the dead, the
firstborn from the dead. And it refers to his
work as priest. And so we have his work as prophet
in the name faithful witness. And we have his
work as priest in the name the firstborn from
the dead. He ever lives as the firstborn from
the dead to intercede on our behalf before the
throne of God. And then we have the third name,
the ruler. over the kings of the earth. And here
we have his role as what? As king. Prophet, priest,
and king. The one who is the ruler over all of
the other rulers or the kings of the earth. It
is his future place when he will come and establish
his kingdom. So we have him represented to us
as prophet, priest, and king in this three -fold
description. And so as John gives us the salutation
and the greeting in the book, he says, grace
to you and peace from each member of the Godhead,
the Father who was, who is, who is to come, and
the Holy Spirit who in his completeness and in
his fullness ministers to the seven churches
and by extension to all of the churches in this
age, and from Jesus Christ, the prophet, the
priest, and the king. Now in the last part of
verse 5 and through verse 6, we have the dedication
of the book. John pauses for a moment as he talks
about Jesus Christ, and he dedicates this book
to Jesus Christ. He says, That is to Jesus Christ.
And again we have a three -fold description.
Before it was a three -fold description of his
person, prophet, priest, and king. And here we
have a three -fold description of his work and
his relationship to believers. It says, to him
who loved us. I think that it's better in the
present tense. That seems to be the better reading.
I would differ with the New King James translators
here, to him who loves us. To him who loves us.
Despite our unloveliness and our unfaithfulness,
he loves us. And as you read about the early
church, as described in these churches in chapters
2 and 3, you're going to see that there are some
pretty disappointing things among God's people.
But he loves us anyway. You're going to see that
there's some unfaithfulness among God's people.
But he loves us anyway. We're going to learn
that the church is undergoing persecution. And
we may be tempted in the midst of persecution
to wonder, does he really love us? John says,
to him who loves us. He loves us through our
distresses. He loves us through our persecutions.
John would be especially appreciative of the
fact that he loves us through our banishments,
our exiles, our times of loneliness, because
John had been exiled away from other believers
and placed on this lonely island in the Aegean
Sea, the Isle of Patmos. That he loves us, says
John, to him who loves us. Now, the second description
of his relationship is that he washed us. He
washed us from our sins in his own blood. Now,
there are some manuscripts, again, that read
this verb differently. The NIV reads it, for
example, who freed us. The point is, in either
one of the verbs, that Jesus Christ has delivered
us from our sins. He has cleansed us. He has
washed us. He has freed us so that no longer
are we in bondage to sin. We have been delivered
from that slavery and exalted to serve Jesus
Christ. And so he dedicates the book to Jesus
Christ who loves us. and who freed us or who
washed us from our sins in his own blood. Let
us never be ashamed of the blood of Christ or
shrink from the beauty of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ shed for our sins. And then the
third description of the relationship as he dedicates
the book is that he has made us kings and priests.
to his God and Father. Or he made us a kingdom
of priests. Or he made us a kingdom, even priests,
unto his God and Father. The point is here that
we have been exalted to serve God. That is part
of God's plan for us. Not only that he has liberated
us from sin, but he has made us to be a kingdom.
of those who are set apart to serve God in the
priesthood. Here we have a hint at the priesthood
of all believers. We need not a priest to go
on our behalf before God, but we are all made
to be priests unto God. And in that role, we're
made a kingdom. We are the royalty of God's new
heaven and new earth. We are a kingdom. And we
are set aside to do priestly service unto God
forever and forever. And he goes on to say, to
him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
You know, there is absolutely nothing that can
diminish the glory of Jesus Christ. We may fret
and worry and stew about the way that our Lord
has spoken about in our world. and the demeaning
of his saving work and his person by those who
are unregenerate and in darkness, but they cannot
rob him of his glory. They can blaspheme him,
and we'll answer for it, but they can never rob
him of his glory, because his glory is secure
forever and forever and forever. Eternally, we
will be glorified as the Son of God, and by his
grace, we will be glorified with him. to serve
as a kingdom of priests unto God. And so John,
after introducing the book, telling us a little
bit about what it's like, then gives us a greeting,
a salutation, and then he dedicates the book.
In verse 7, he talks about the theme of the book,
the dissertation of it. He says, Behold, he is
coming with clouds. Now, if you wanted to just
say, what is the book of Revelation about, turn
to verse 7 and you see where it's all heading.
It is the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And,
of course, those events that precede and lead
to his coming. But the dissertation or the theme
of the book is found right there in verse 7.
He is coming. Literally, the Greek says, come.
Come and see. Here we have a climactic invitation
that implies that there has never been anything
like this before. Come, come and see this. Behold,
look at this glory. There's been nothing that
human eyes have ever seen like this. Behold,
he is coming. He says he's coming with clouds.
This alludes to what Daniel saw and records in
Daniel chapter 7, verse 13. It is the exact fulfillment
of what the angel said on the day that our Lord
ascended back to heaven. The same Jesus who has
taken up from you in heaven will so come in like
manner as you have seen him go into heaven. And
Luke says, when they saw him go up, he disappeared
into the clouds. And it is with clouds that our
Lord... will come. There's a marvelous illusion
here to the glory that will accompany his reappearance.
Here is an incomparable glory. There has been
nothing like this that the world has ever, ever
seen. I'll tell you, the world can put on some
magnificent shows. You think back a few weeks
to the opening of the Olympics in Spain. Or to
the closing ceremonies. In a certain way, that
was quite spectacular. It was also quite pagan.
And I thought it was an interesting exposure
of the direction that Western culture is taking
into pagan concepts and ideas. But I'm telling
you, it's spectacular. And even over the television,
with a limitation of 19 inches, you could see
that this was something. to be there but there
is nothing i mean it's just absolutely nothing
you can't even compare what that was like to
the majesty and the pomp that will accompany
this day when he comes with the clouds and it
says that every eye will see him and they also
who pierced him now notice it says every eye
will see him that is His coming will be visible
to the whole earth. Now, I've heard some people
say, well, isn't it wonderful we have television
today so that every eye will be able to see him?
Well, I don't know if it's wonderful we have
television or not. The more time goes on, the
more I think it's not very wonderful. And besides
that, I'm not sure everybody's going to have
a television set when Jesus comes. Beyond that,
do you think Jesus needs television cameras?
I do not know the exact manner of how every eye
will see him, but the fact is that he will be
visible to every person on earth when he comes.
Now, does that mean that his coming, which is
described as sudden and like lightning that appears
in the sky, that once he appears, that his coming...
will, in fact, take a period of hours or days.
But when he first appears, until he arrives on
the earth, can you imagine the terror in the
hearts of human beings, unregenerate human beings,
as they would look into the sky and see extraterrestrial
beings coming to the earth? Every eye, it says,
will see him. And there is a response that we'll
see in Revelation that just makes you shudder.
cry for the rocks to fall upon them and hide
them from his face but then he especially points
out that those who pierced him will see him now
that could well refer to the the jewish people
obviously those exact people who pierced him
are dead they will not see him at this time as
he returns to the earth, because they will be
resurrected later to stand before him in judgment.
But it may well be that he's talking here about
the Jewish nation, the descendants of those who
pierced him. We live in an interesting day, and
I just kind of insert this, it doesn't really
apply to Revelation, but a couple of years ago,
as they were building a road in a part of Jerusalem,
the southern part of the city of Jerusalem, called
the Peace Forest, there was a cave -in. as they
were excavating for this road, and they looked
down into a tomb that they had accidentally uncovered.
And so they called archaeologists, and they'd
been investigating, what is this tomb? And inside
the tomb were several ossuaries, which are small
casket -like stone containers. And one of them,
it was obvious because of the tomb that this
was a very important family. The tomb had never
been disrupted. And as they found one of these
ossuaries or caskets, it had the name on it,
Caiaphas. They can't say for sure that those
are the bones of Caiaphas that are found inside
their ossuary, but it's very likely that those
are literally the bones of the man who was the
high priest and condemned Jesus. 2 ,000 years
ago. Well, the descendants of those people will
see him. Those who pierced him will see him.
And it says, all the tribes of the earth will
mourn because of him. The word mourn here means
strong wailing. It denotes absolute horror and
agony of soul, so much so as to literally cut
oneself. To take a knife and to cut oneself because
one is in such agony. Well, that's what we have
to anticipate as we look into the book, the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ and those events that
lead up to and bring that incomparable day when
he will return to the earth. And then in verse
8 we have the authentication of the book. It's
sort of a seal that says, yes, John is right.
but is going to be told as the imprimatur of
Almighty God upon it. My Red Letter edition of
the Bible puts these words in red, which I think,
personal opinion, is incorrect. Because usually
the red is signified through the words of Jesus,
right? I think here it's really the word of God
the Father. I believe it is God the Father who
says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning
and the end, says the Lord, who is, who was,
and who is to come, the Almighty. And so we have
eternal God saying here, he who is unchangeable
in all of his purposes, he who is over all, who
has his hand in everything, the Almighty, that's
what it means. He has everything under control.
He says, this is it. What you are about to read
is the way that is going to be, and I authenticate
this book. And so as we commence our study of
this book of the Revelation, we are going to
study the capstone of God's Revelation, the final
word that he gives to humanity before the...
The work of Revelation stops. It is a book that
is meant to be studied and understood. Now, what
should you expect to gain from a study in the
book? What blessing? Well, first, I trust that
God will give us all a better grasp of the loveliness
of our Savior. This is a book that unveils Him
to us. It's a book that belongs to Him. And I
trust that as we work our way through the book,
we will see him in his glory. But a second blessing
that we should have is that we will have increased
insight into future things. Now, some of you
have been through the book of the Revelation
before, maybe even several times. But others
of you are trying to piece together, well, when
does this happen and how does that fall out?
And we will put some of those things into perspective.
I'm sorry we won't answer all of your questions.
because there will still be questions as we come
to the end of the book. But hopefully you'll
have some increased insight, and then I trust
that all of us will have an enlarged faith in
God's sovereign control of all of human history.
I think that that is the underlying message of
the book, that God's in charge. And as the old
song said, He's got the whole world in his hands.
Everything. John is writing to people who are
suffering under Domitian, one of the cruel dictators
of the Roman Empire. They were going through
a great deal. He wants them, as they read the
book, to be reassured in their suffering that
God's in control. While it may look pretty dark
from where they're living, where they're standing,
There is a bright, shining day up in the future
when Jesus Christ is going to come and he's going
to set things right. And he will rule and reign
forever and forever. And so pray with me, study
with me, and let's ask God the Holy Spirit to
be our teacher as we look together in this wonderful
book. Would you stand with me, please, as we
come to a close?