A Peek Behind the Curtain - Introduction to Revelation

We are starting a new teaching series today called Unveiling Hope: A Study in the Book of Revelation. I think this works well coming off of our last series about misunderstanding scripture because I’m not sure if there is a more mis-understood or more mis-interpreted book of the Bible than the book of Revelation. I have heard some terrible theology spouted out of this book and I know far too many Christians who avoid the book completely when they read through the Bible.

The book has a reputation of being about the end times, the apocalypse, of terrible judgments upon the earth and of God judging us. People read it and envision a barren wasteland with lakes of fire intermittedly spread about. They create timelines of when everything is going to happen, debating whether God is going rapture his people pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation or post-tribulation and whether or not this will take place before the millenium , after the millenium or if there even is a millenium. They try to figure out which nation the Anti-Christ will come from, where specifically the battle of Armageddon will be, and who the 24 elders are. And if you have no idea about what I am talking about, you are truly blessed.

But within this book, there are parts of it that refer to wars, famine, pestilence, eathquakes, Christian apostasy, and other things that when we look around today, make many people wonder if we are truly in the end times. So, we wanted to set your mind at ease.

The answer is yes. We are in the end times. But we have been in the end times since Jesus ascended back to the father so there isn’t a reason to panic. But holding to a theology where we acknowledge we in the end times, but live by faith and not fear, will actually help us to understand this book better and how God wants to speak to our lives in the here and now.

So let’s read the first eight verses of Revelation 1.

Revelation 1:1–8 NLT

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John, who faithfully reported everything he saw. This is his report of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near. This letter is from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come; from the sevenfold Spirit before his throne; and from Jesus Christ. He is the faithful witness to these things, the first to rise from the dead, and the ruler of all the kings of the world. All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen. Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen! “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Pray.

Before we get too far into this, I want to be very clear. We are not going to be looking at timelines, we are not going to determine whether Christians are a part of the great tribulation or not and we are not going to create a nice and neat “End Times” box of theology for you. Using the book “Discipleship on the Edge” by pastor, professor of preaching and author Darrell Johnson, our hope is that you see that the book of Revelation is primarily a book designed to help you grow in your faith. As I studied this passage this past week, and wanted to help us understand how and why we should study this book, I thought we should approach it by asking three questions.

1. What is this book about?

Earlier this week, I was picking up my daughter, Hannah, from school and I brought my dog, Max, with me. He loves car rides and loves attention, and I’ve brought him before to come with me to get Hannah. We get out of the car in the parking lot and I attach his leash and instantly he is pulling hard. And he’s a pretty strong dog. Then a car door opens and he sees his former family so he was very excited to see them. I visit for a minute, let them pet Max and then I take him across the street to the school. And he’s still pulling hard. He’s pulling to the right, then crossing in front of me to go left, and then backwards and then pulling forwards. There are people everywhere and he’s looking around like a kid in a candy shop. He’s distracted by the sheer amount of stimulation around us.

And I think that sometimes, we can be like that with the book of Revelation. There is so much packed in these 22 chapters that we can get distracted from the purpose of the book - from what it’s really about. The key to understanding this book is found in the very first verse.

Revelation 1:1 NLT

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John,

The original word used here that we translated as “revelation” is “apokalupsis” from which we get the english word “Apocalypse.” It literally means “to uncover, to reveal, to unveil.” Let me illustrate: do any of you make any homemade soups? You know when you boil down the stock and the mirepoix and then you take the lid off and it gives that amazing smell? That’s apocalypse. Or if you’ve ever been able to go backstage at a concert? It’s like a whole, other world there and there is a sense that you got to peek behind the curtain. That’s apocalypse. Apocalypse does not mean the end of anything, except maybe ignorance.

So the book of Revelation starts with this idea that this is a revelation - an unveiling FROM Jesus. Other translations say it’s a revelation OF Jesus. So which one is it? It doesn’t really matter because both are true. The book of Revelation is fundamentally first and foremost a book about Jesus.

It’s an unveiling FROM Jesus - a behind-the-scenes look at what happens when the kingdom of God breaks into the kingdoms of this world.

It’s an unveiling OF Jesus - this book exalts our risen Lord like few other books of the Bible and leads us to a deeper worship of him. Just look at what it says in verse 8:

Revelation 1:8 NLT

“I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Now, if you have been around church for a bit, you may have learned that Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Jesus is the first and the last - he is eternal - he existed for eternity before humanity and will exist for eternity after us. He is the beginning and the end of our faith - it’s all in him. But then the passage seems to re-iterate or define the phrase by calling Jesus “the beginning and the end.” But the word for “beginning” in the original Greek is “arche” from which we get the word “archetype.” Jesus is the archetype of humanity - the perfect example of what we all should be. And the word for “end” in the Greek is “telos” and it means the inherent destiny of a thing. The inherent destiny of a baby is to become an adult. The inherent destiny of an acorn is an oak tree. The inherent destiny of a pie is my stomach. Jesus is the inherent destiny for everything. That’s why Paul can write

Colossians 1:15–17 NLT

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see— such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

The book of Revelation is first and foremost a book that is about Jesus and we need to be wary of all the things that can easily distract us from it. The second question we need to ask for today is:

2. Why did John write it?

The apostle John is the author of this book and the one who received this vision from God. But he didn’t write this so we could compile a timeline of events for the “end times.” He didn’t write it so that only Christians in 21st Century Canada could look around, see the signs, and declare we are in the end times. This book has had, and still has, practical implications for the way that all Christians live, no matter where or when they lived.

Its important to see within this book that John wrote it in three different genres, each for a specific reason:

It’s a letter: John was a pastor who wrote this letter to address the specific needs of a specific people in a specific time. Most scholars agree it was written about 96 AD. This means that the Roman persecution of Christians, which started under Nero, was reaching it’s devastating peak under Emperor Domitian. He was a wildly insecure man who forced everyone in the kingdom to worship him as Lord and God. So everyone had to go to a temple built in his honour, take a pinch of incense, throw it on the fire of the altar and say, “Caesar Kurios” which means “Caesar is Lord.” Most people were fine with this because of two reasons: 1) They were polytheists so they were used to worshipping lots of different gods. What was one more? 2) You didn’t actually have to believe, you just had to do it. But for the Christians of the time, this was a huge deal.

John himself didn’t participate in this idol worship so he was arrested and banished to the island of Patmos - which was a rock quarry populated by criminals and enemies of the state. It’s from there he writes this letter to remind his people that there is only one true Lord - only one who commands our absolute and undivided allegiance: Jesus Christ, the resurrected Saviour. This book is a letter of challenge and encouragement to Christians facing the pressure of fitting in to avoid being persecuted. This letter is a reminder to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

It’s prophecy: Prophecy isn’t just a prediction of the future - it’s more about a proclamation from God. John writes what he sees and hears because God is trying to communicate something that requires a response from us. He tells his audience some things that will “shortly take place” so that they can respond in faith, with obedience to the will of God and devotion to the person of Jesus.

It’s apocalyptic: That means it’s full of symbolism, where things like colours and numbers mean something and where people are often depicted as animals and events as natural phenomena. Imagery is used to help the message stick better in the minds of people, especially in the minds of illiterate people, like the majority of those who were the original audience. Let me show you an example:

But most importantly, apocalyptic literature seeks to do two things:

1) Sets the present in light of the unseen realities of the future.

Revelation 1:1 NLT

This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place. He sent an angel to present this revelation to his servant John,

If we know what the future holds, it affects our actions here and now. For those who invest, if you knew there was going to be a huge drop in value coming in three months, would you change something in your portfolio? Jesus gives his original audience and us a reminder that even though it may look bleak for a time, in the end, Jesus wins. That there is coming a day when our faith is justified before God and we experience peace and rest in the fullness of what those words mean with no sin and no shame holding us back. It might not look like it it’s coming, but it is.

2) Set the present in light of the invisible realities of the present. There is always more than what it seems in life. More than just a world that we experience with our five senses, there is the unseen world of demons and angels, of Satan and God, where temptation takes root and deliverance is found. The Book of Revelation pulls back the curtain on that world and reminds us stay the course of faith because, Jesus has already won.

So far, we’ve asked two questions: What is this book about and why did John write it. The third question we need to ask is:

3. What does this book have to do with me?

The way that this book is written, it can be very easy to read it and either get confused by it, depressed by it, or think that it’s a book that isn’t for us, because we aren’t in the end times. But I agree with Darrell Johnson when he says that “Revelation is not a crystal ball revealing esoteric secrets that enable one to escape the harsh realities of life on earth, but a down-to-earth manual on how to be a disciple of Jesus facing the harsh realities of life on the earth, in particular, how to do this the way Jesus did and does.” John says,

Revelation 1:3 NLT

God blesses the one who reads the words of this prophecy to the church, and he blesses all who listen to its message and obey what it says, for the time is near.

Not only is there blessing for us as we read this book because it unveils Jesus and gives us hope, there is a blessing for those who would listen to its message and OBEY what it says. This book is a book about discipleship. It requires us to take action.

Action # 1 - Worship Jesus

We’ve already seen how John exalts Jesus and records that he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning of the end. Within this book we also see Jesus revealed as the prophetic Son of Man, the resurrected saviour, the all-powerful head of the church, the conviction for sins, the one who is holy and true, the one who defeated death and holds the keys to eternal life, the faithful and true witness, the king on his throne, the lion of Judah, the lamb of God who is worthy, the one who defeats Satan and the Anti-Christ and brings about the fullness of the kingdom of God. Revelation shows us Jesus and invites us to join with the 24 elders, with all the angels, and with the family of God from throughout time.

Revelation 7:9–10 NLT

After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a great roar, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

When we sing here on Sundays, it is not insignificant. We are proclaiming with our whole being in song the praises of our Saviour, who was, who is, and who is to come.

Action # 2 - Know that Jesus wins

In the classic 1989 movie “Back to the Future 2” Marty McFly travels far into the future, all the way to 2015 where skateboards hover, cars fly, and shoes lace themselves. While there, he finds a sports almanac book that tells the scores of every major sporting event since the 1950’s. He buys the book with the intention of taking it back to 1985 and then betting on the games. He ends up losing the book in 1955 where his father’s bully finds it and starts betting. By 1985, Biff has amassed a huge fortune and has taken over the town, all because he knew the future and acted on that information.

As Christians, we find ourselves in a similar scenario. We know the future and God is invited us to bet big on it because it is a sure thing. There is lots of stuff in the book of Revelation that is foretold that I don’t understand or know what it is exactly. What the mark of the Beast will actually be? Where the Anti-Christ will come from? Which is correct, pre-tribulation, mid-tribulation, post-tribulation? I don’t know the answers to these issues and I am a bit skeptical of anyone who claims to know for sure.

But what I do know is that in the end, Jesus wins. Death and sin are fully defeated. Everything will be renewed and my eternity is secure.

Revelation 21:3–5 NLT

I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”

I know what the future holds and that knowledge impacts my choices here and now. It impacts my perception of the world here and now. It impacts my level of hope in the here and now. It impacts the way I choose to live and what I choose to believe. I follow Jesus because no matter what it looks like around me, in the end, Jesus wins.

Action # 3 - Be ready, for Jesus is coming.

The book of Revelation opens and closes with a reminder that Jesus is coming.

Revelation 1:7 NLT

Look! He comes with the clouds of heaven. And everyone will see him— even those who pierced him. And all the nations of the world will mourn for him. Yes! Amen!

Revelation 22:20 NLT

He who is the faithful witness to all these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

I don’t know when Jesus is returning. I don’t know if it will be in my lifetime or whether he will be another 2000 years from now and it doesn’t matter. Both are “soon” in the timeline of God who is eternal. No matter when he returns, what kind of a people will he find here on earth? Will he find us apathetic in our faith? Lazy in our service? Unloving to our neighbours? Or will Jesus find his people, will he find you and I, zealous for the kingdom? Dilligent in our devotion? Obedient to the will and word of God?

Now that my kids are old enough to be left home alone for short times, I have learned that if I tell them, before I leave, to do a chore - emptying the dishwasher and tidying the kitchen for example - then the most important piece of information they want is “when are we coming home.” They need this because it’s a foregone conclusion that they will leave the kitchen a mess all night and then will scramble and quickly start doing that chore while we are driving home.

Let’s not do faith like that. The book of Revelation teaches us that Jesus is coming soon and he has called us to be his faithful witnesses of his love, grace and power to this world. So be ready: Jesus is coming.

Conclusion

For 8 more weeks, we are going to go through this amazing book together at both North Park campuses. And even with two sermons each week, we will barely scratch the surface of all the goodness that this book has in it so my hope is that you will take some time to read it yourself, hopefully a couple of times over in the next two months and prayerfully listen to whatever God wants to say to you in it. This is a book that is all about Jesus and because you are loved by Jesus, called by Jesus and spiritually secured by Jesus, the book of Revelation is an encouragement for you to stay the course in your faith in the midst of whatever challenges you may be experiencing because in the end, Jesus wins.

Pray.