Untitled Sermon (8)

Some Bible scholars have divided the Book of Revelation into three main parts:

Introduction (Chapter One)

The Letters to the Churches - “The Things Which Are” (Chapters two to three)

Prophecy of Future Events - The “After these things” or the “Things which must take place.” (Chapter 4 to the end)

The Subject and I would say the main hero of the Book is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The purpose of the Book is Seven-fold. (What does Revelation actually reveal?)

Reveals the Preeminence of Jesus.

He is revealed as the Alpha and the Omega, as the Beginning and the End, the One Who is, Who was, and Who is to come. That covers past, present, and future. It is to reveal Christ and to reveal His preeminence, His Lordship, His Kingship, over all things. That’s the primary purpose of the Book.

2. To Reveal Future Events that Must take place.

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. (Rev. 1:2,3)

3. To Reveal the Ultimate Defeat and Judgement of Evil.

But the bottom line is the Book does show the ultimate judgment and defeat of evil – that evil is self-defeating; evil is a black hole that collapses in upon itself. And so evil and everything connected to evil is heading for a judgment. Now in the meantime it looks like evil becomes stronger and stronger. It’s pervasive, and it seems like the darkness is greater than the light. But the purpose of the Book of Revelation is to show that no matter how dark things get, no matter how bad things seem, no matter how powerful evil appears to be, that Jesus is Lord and ultimately evil will be defeated.

4. To Reveal the Ultimate Victory and Reward of Good.

And by “good,” I don’t mean good in the sense of good works trying to balance out your bad works, but I’m saying the goodness of God. It says where sin abounds His grace does much more abound.[5] Much more abound! Grace is greater than sin! In the Book of Revelation we have the ultimate expression of evil. You have the ultimate expression of darkness. You have the ultimate expression of everything that is antichrist and anti-good. And yet, even though mankind rebels, and even though the devil puts everything he can into an effort to destroy mankind, you see the ultimate reward and triumph of good over evil. You see that God’s purpose is fulfilled...

5. To Reveal The Coming Kingdom.

This is the Fulfillment of “thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

God’s purpose is fulfilled – in spite of all the evil, all the wickedness, all the sin, all the death, all the destruction. And we find in the Book of Revelation that paradise is not permanent, but heaven comes down to earth! We also find that hades is not permanent, but hell is thrown in the lake of fire! The purpose of our salvation is really not to take you to heaven and live with Jesus forever; the purpose is for God and Christ to fill all things on earth. For His Will to be done on earth. For His presence to be on earth. His Kingdom to be on earth as it is in heaven. Heaven and earth will pass away in order to make room for a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells. Hallelujah!

With these five purposes, follow the response of the church of our time.

The Response of the Church to the Book of Revelation:

The Church is to Be Encouraged.

To overcome trials and persecutions.

Keep Trusting God, Stay Faithful and BE OBEDIENT!

Don’t give up is a recurring theme. Especially in the letters of Jesus to the churches!

2. Sound the Alarm!

Jesus is Revelation 22:10 warns:

Revelation 22:10 NKJV

10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.

Beginners always get confused by the symbols in this book; they are lost" They think that the book contains too many symbols which are difficult to understand. Actually, this book is not as difficult as they think. Even though this book has many symbols, many of them have been interpreted. Thus, readers should not be confused and lost. Rather, they should rely on the strength of the Lord and be patient and diligent to study the Word of the Lord. If we need patience to seek the knowledge of the world, how much more is it needed for spiritual knowledge!

There are at least fourteen symbols that have been interpreted, and the others, which are not interpreted, do not exceed this number.