Sermon Tone Analysis

The Apocolypse

Sermon 1: Introduction to Revelation

Bart A Skroh

[Introduction]

This morning I am beginning a new series on the book of Revelation.

One of the primary challenges with the Church in America today is that church people are don’t know their bibles.

There are probably two reasons why people don’t know the bible today.

The first is they are not reading and studying it on their own.

(I cant do anything about that) The second reason is preachers are not preaching and teaching the bible like they used to.

I can do something about that.

The new testament book that people have the most apprehension towards by far is the book of Revelation.

Christians are scared of it and think that they will never have any hope of understanding the book.

Unfortunately pastors are little better in this regard.

Probably 9 out of 10 pastors will choose to ignore the book from the pulpit.

What we are starting this morning is a verse by verse sermon series through the book of am not going to skip anything because I don’t understand it, or it is controversial.

I wont be as thorough as I would if this were bible study, but you will come away from this series knowing the book of Revelation better than you have before.

I will not be as thorough as I would if this were Wednesday night but still this will be fairly comprehensive.

The Book of Revelation is a prophecy and an Apocalypse.

Now when I say apocalypse I do not mean climactic disaster.

In the days when the bible was written apocalyptic literature was common among both the Jews and the Greeks.

Apocalyptic literature has three major features 1) it deals with hidden things (hence the need for unveiling) 2) it deals with vast upheaval, and 3) it deals with God’s decisive action.

ESV

(1) The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

(2) who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

(3) 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.

[pray]

[The Apocalypse of Christ] vs 1-3

Verse 1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Verse one gives us the title of the book in Greek.

The Greek word for Revelation is Apocalypse.

This book is truly titled the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

This is where apocalyptic literature comes from.

The word apocalypse however means to unveil or to reveal.

Think about the world of art.

When an artist paints a picture or sculpts a stature and then is about to show it to the world; they gather all their friends and their patrons and their friends and bring them into the room where the masterpiece is covered up with a tarp or a veil.

When the time is right the pull back the curtain or the veil and reveal the work of art.

That is an apocalypse.

A revealing unveiling.

So what is the book of Revelation revealing?

As David Guzik says in his commentary on Revelation:

“From the outset, we are given the most important truth about the Book of Revelation.

This book shows us the Antichrist, it shows us God’s judgment, it shows us calamity on the earth, and it shows us Mystery Babylon in vivid detail.

Most of all, it is the Revelation of Jesus Christ to us.

If we catch everything else, but miss Jesus in the book, we miss the Book of Revelation.”

Jesus Christ is in every chapter of the book of revelation and almost on every page.

If you find the book of revelation scary or confusing I would encourage you to read through this book and make a list of what Jesus is doing in every chapter and you will not only become more comfortable with the book but you will also get to know Jesus your Lord more intimately.

That God Gave … His servants

So first off we see that this book is the Revelation of Jesus.

Further on in verse one we see this revelation is that: “which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.”

God gave this revelation of Jesus for the purpose of His servants.

God gave this revelation so that it may be shown and not hidden.

The mystery religions and cults of John’s day kept their servants in the dark only revealing the hidden mysteries to the most elite students.

[Pythagoras (where we get the Pythagorean theorem in math) was one such a cult leader.

He forced his initiates into a vow of silence for three year.

And if they could last all that time he would only then begin to reveal some oh his esoteric secrets.

One of these is the PT.] Jesus is no such a cult leader.

His desire is for all of his servants to know the divine truths, and that is why He reveals this freely to John to give to us.

That God Gave … Jesus?

Now I want you to look back at verse one very carefully.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place.

He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,

Who is the Him?

It is clear from both the context and from the Greek that the Him is Jesus Christ.

In fact the New King James essentially tells you that by capitalizing Him.

So what pastor?

This is a revelation not just of Jesus himself, but it is also a revelation of that Jesus himself received from God the Father.

The entire book of revelation is information that comes to us directly from the throne of God!

This is not information that was hatched in the mind of the Apostle John.

This is Divine Revelation!

Some have a problem with this idea (I completely understand) because how can Jesus, the very God of very God learn?

Because if this is a revelation to Jesus then that would imply that there is information that he did not know.

Now I personally think that this is the wrong way to interpret this.

This is indeed revelation from God the Father to show mankind.

It was not news to Jesus.

It was merely God the Father granting Jesus permission to show this revelation to man.

This lets us know that this information very special since the Father is giving Jesus permission to share previously hidden information.

The prophet Daniel was told to seal up certain information until the time of the end.

It is as Daniel was instructed to write in . . .

seal the book, even to the time of the end . . .

Contrast what Daniel wrote with John’s writing in , Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.

The Revelation was and has been sealed until world events have begun to reveal its veracity.

I believe that the book of Revelation is part of what was sealed up in Daniel’s time.

In fact, Daniel, as he addressed the end times, says in the rest of , many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

Needless to say, people are racing around in cars, trains, and planes.

They are running to and fro.

To attempt to unveil the end time events is an awesome task.

However, God does not intend for the truth of this book to be sealed to man.

He intended the church to study and understand the message of Revelation.

So what is so special that God reveal to man?

Things that must shortly come to pass…

The things that are revealed in the book of Revelation are things that are yet to come to pass.

In many ways is a key verse for this book.

It says: ( ESV) Write therefore 1)the things that you have seen, 2)those that are and 3)those that are to take place after this.

In a very real sense the book of Revelation tells us that the Apostle John saw in his day, the things that are currently going on and the things that are yet to come.. What a marvelously prophetic book.

The absolutely amazing thing is that it doesn’t matter what time period that you are in since its writing, Revelation still tells you those three things.

Even if you were in the medieval period or even the cowboy and Indian days, Revelation still tells you what John saw, what is currently going on in the church age, and what is yet to come.

This means that the Book of Revelation is a book of predictive prophecy.

It speaks of things that will happen in the future – at least future from the time of its writing.