Synthesis: Revelation
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Illust: Freddy Freeman disappointment
Revelation is a beautiful book pulling all the chords to one place: the glorious savior.
It has a bit of every genre.
It combines every theme.
It answers every loose thread.
Illust: Tom Kenngott reading the book.
It is not a scary book.
Illust: Sitting through my dad’s teaching of it.
Intro to Revelation
Intro to Revelation
Context
Context
What is revelation about?
Define apocalypse - to reveal or uncover.
It is pulling back the curtain on Jesus.
When was it written and by who?
John the Apostle is alone, he has been persecuted, beaten, flayed, attacked. Now he is alone on Patmos, exiled to a prison island. The last place news would ever expect to leave.
And it is here, this no-mans-land of an island that Christ decides to end the story. His beloved apostle receives a vision that helps his hurting church in prisons everywhere throughout all time.
Why you should read Revelation
To be encouraged to persevere.
To have hope for the destruction of all evil.
To have right expectations for what will happen on earth and what will happen in heaven.
To see the culmination of the story of the Bible in Christ.
To see Jesus as beautiful
The landscape of Revelation
There is not an official historical position of the church on how to understand this book.
Different views you will encounter:
Partial-Preterist
Historicist
Futurist
Idealist
What’s the point?
All these positions have very similar applications.
Be humble, and don’t miss the main point.
Illust: Azy getting impatient
My view?
A bit of all of it.
Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Two things are happening: God’s kingdom is growing, but tribulation is also growing. At the end of the age, a GREAT tribulation happens.
I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
This judgement on the Jews, given through the destruction of the temple, would parallel the destruction of the whole world later.
Illust: in Star Wars, Anakin blows up a space station. That echoes the bigger space station explosion.
5 Principles for interpreting revelation (Alex Stewart)
5 Principles for interpreting revelation (Alex Stewart)
Focus on the original purpose of the visions
It is meant to comfort you.
Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
Let the original historical context guide your interpretation
It is written to seven historical churches in Asia minor.
Don’t read it with a newspaper in one hand and a Bible in the other.
Recognize repetition
It is not necessarily chronological. Some events are described from different angles. Some are telescopic. (Rashamon Movie)
The end of history shows up over and over again (6:12-17, 7:15-17, 11:15-19, 14:1-5, 14-20, 16:17-21)
Recognize symbolism
It is highly symbolic. Find the answers to symbols in other parts of Scripture.
John is not describing things from our time using whatever language he could come up with.
Die Meistersinger Overture
Read it as Christian Scripture
It is just as edifying Bible stuff as any other.
What is the whole Bible trying to do? Make God look glorious.
7 Ways Revelation Makes Christ Beautiful
7 Ways Revelation Makes Christ Beautiful
Christ is the leader of each church (1-3)
Christ is the leader of each church (1-3)
The section is written to seven actual churches. These churches basically represent each church that has ever followed forever.
They show what the church is doing good in, what the church is doing bad in, and what the reward of judgement is for their response.
The Point: Christ cares about each church.
Some of you have come from church hurt.
Some of you will encounter church hurt.
You might even doubt Christianity because of the wickedness you see in people.
Do not base your faith on the church. Base it on Christ, because Christ holds the church accountable.
Revelation 1:17-20
Christ is the rightful owner of creation (4-5)
Christ is the rightful owner of creation (4-5)
Transition to heaven. We see 24 elders, we see great beasts and angels.
The events in earth are not random, they are sovereignly accomplished in heaven. Heaven is the control center of everything that happens here.
A scroll shows up. No one can open it!.
The idea of the scroll:
A deed of purchase (Jeremiah 32:14)
A fulfillment of judgement and resurrection (Daniel 12:4)
What is the idea?
Christ didn’t buy creation back as a lion. He bought it as a lamb, through sacrifice.
Revelation 5:9
Christ is the protector of his people (6-7)
Christ is the protector of his people (6-7)
Christ opens the scroll, and judgements start reigning down. This is good. This is Christ doing what he wants with his creation.
The judgements are not meant to scare you. They are meant to encourage you that God sees evil and he will deal with it.
But what about me? What will happen to us? I don’t want to live through this!
The promise of God’s people is sealed.
Revelation 7:13-17
If you are afraid of the future, remember you are on the winning side.
Christ is the exposer of his enemies (8-11)
Christ is the exposer of his enemies (8-11)
Creation ended at the end of the last section. Well I think the trumpets zoom in on the last seal. I think that God ramps things up as they go on.
The focus is not so much on the people of God this time, but on the response of the world.
Revelation 8:13, 9:20-21
Everyone that is being judged are people who refuse to be saved. God does not reject anyone that wants salvation.
Christ is the target of the great enemy (12-18)
Christ is the target of the great enemy (12-18)
Three bigger sections here:
Visions portraying Satan’s war on Christ
Visions showing the bowl judgements upon Satan’s followers.
Visions showing Babylon the great, Satan’s
Revelation 12:1-6, 17.
The point: Satan makes a false Christ and a false church. They are attractive, but their counterfeit nature makes Christ look even more glorious.
We are hated because they hated him first.
Christ is the victor of the war (19-20)
Christ is the victor of the war (19-20)
Lastly, Christ and his bride enjoy a supper before he returns to attack.
Christ doesn’t leave the war to us. He comes and gets us himself.
Revelation 19:11
When Christ defeats the dragon, he gets the bride.
Christ is the receiver of his bride (21-22)
Christ is the receiver of his bride (21-22)
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.”
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
The picture of Christ enjoying his people.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Summary: The Bible is a love story between Christ and his bride the church. Because he is our hero, we have nothing to fear in the future.
The point of the Bible - It is about the glory of Christ.
He is worthy.
