back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 12
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Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for your blessing. 00:00:11.400 |
We pray, Father, that your Word would truly be living and active and it would judge the 00:00:18.440 |
I pray that you would search beyond the superficial and cause us, Lord God, to think deeply, to 00:00:25.920 |
meditate, to feel all that you have intended, Father, in your Word. 00:00:31.560 |
So we entrust this time to you, asking that you would guide and lead us. 00:00:37.640 |
All right, so after, just kind of give you a heads up, after this week, next week, obviously 00:00:42.680 |
we're going to be in chapter 11, and then the week after that is going to be our last 00:00:46.360 |
session for this session, and then we're going to take the month of August off. 00:00:51.480 |
And then, I think it's, we have four weeks off, and then the last Wednesday of August 00:00:57.400 |
we're going to pick back up in chapter 12, okay? 00:01:00.240 |
But next week we do chapter 11, and chapter 11 is right in the middle of the book, and 00:01:08.320 |
the last session, instead of going to chapter 12, we want to take that time to review the 00:01:14.120 |
And I know some of you guys, especially the ones who have been coming every other time, 00:01:17.840 |
it's really hard to keep up, especially in the book of Revelation. 00:01:22.020 |
So we're going to take at least, you know, one day to help you catch up if you missed 00:01:30.760 |
Do your best to try to come to that, if possible, because hopefully that will help you to kind 00:01:34.940 |
of connect the dots together, so that when we head to the second part, it'll make more 00:01:41.200 |
So and then those of you who've been following along, and if that's not an issue, I'm sure 00:01:48.600 |
You know, studying the book of Revelation, I mean, you can see, chapter 10 is one of 00:01:52.680 |
those chapters that, you know, there's, you can pretty much read it and not get anything 00:01:59.120 |
It's pretty ambiguous if you don't sit there and really dig what is the meaning of this, 00:02:02.320 |
and because it's kind of a setup passage for what's coming. 00:02:05.960 |
So everything that's happening in chapter 10 is kind of preparing us for the second 00:02:14.000 |
Remember we talked about there's seven different series? 00:02:17.720 |
So this is going to lead us into the bold judgments, and you guys remember the bold 00:02:21.920 |
judgments are where the really intensive stuff is going to be taking place. 00:02:27.400 |
My hope and prayer, again, as you guys have been studying through the book of Revelations 00:02:31.520 |
together, how important is the book of Revelation and about the thought and preparation for 00:02:44.200 |
Our sanctification is directly linked to how sober we are about the second coming, how 00:02:50.880 |
Because if we're not thinking about the second coming, naturally we're going to end up thinking 00:02:55.080 |
about this life, like making this place our home, and then we think we're going to be 00:02:59.280 |
here permanently until we get older, and then we kind of spend our youth chasing after things 00:03:05.040 |
Our sanctification is directly linked to end times. 00:03:08.400 |
Our hope is directly linked to the end times. 00:03:10.980 |
Even our fellowship, our fellowship, if it is not centered around cause of hope for the 00:03:19.280 |
coming of Christ and eternity, our fellowship can easily just be friendship, right? 00:03:24.320 |
In the name of Christ, just happens to be in the church, but it's not real fellowship, 00:03:32.120 |
Disciple making, all of this is directly linked to how soberly we're thinking about the end 00:03:38.080 |
So, if we don't see the end, if we're not living day to day with the thought of what 00:03:42.480 |
we were being taught in the book of Revelation, and this is not a reality, this is just something 00:03:47.360 |
that you know it's in the Bible, some of it is ambiguous and some of it is hard to understand, 00:03:52.360 |
you just know it in the Bible, but it's not a reality in your life, then probably you're 00:04:03.520 |
There's like a, you feel a sense of guilt of not sharing the gospel, but it's not, you're 00:04:07.340 |
not being compelled to do it, because you want to do it, you just feel this guilt of 00:04:11.760 |
like, "Oh, I should be doing this, I should be praying, I should be fellowshipping," but 00:04:15.640 |
there's nothing internally compelling you to do it, because what compels us is all the 00:04:20.580 |
stuff that we're learning in the book of Revelation. 00:04:23.840 |
So, some of it makes sense, some of it we have to dig a little bit harder, but every 00:04:28.060 |
part of it is directly linked to our spiritual lives, right? 00:04:32.200 |
How we are able to live sober or not able to live sober. 00:04:35.080 |
So again, I know that a lot of the stuff that we're going over, it may be going over your 00:04:39.140 |
head, but I think even if it is going over your head, the impressions that are made on 00:04:44.380 |
you about the judgment that's coming, about the hope of Christ and how things are working, 00:04:49.620 |
even if you can't connect the dots, sometimes you don't have to connect the dots to have 00:04:55.360 |
You just need to have the general impression, which basically is that the end is ordained, 00:05:02.940 |
And when the end comes, there's going to be severe judgment, and then after the judgment 00:05:12.360 |
This is not that what we're studying now is not, "Hopefully this will happen. 00:05:16.300 |
If the right things are done, that we're going to lead to this." 00:05:19.660 |
This is written in the scroll, and it is permanent, and this is what we are eagerly waiting for. 00:05:25.340 |
So hopefully as we're studying through that, that that kind of, it would cause all of us 00:05:29.380 |
to be more sober about everything that we're being taught here. 00:05:33.940 |
I wanted to do a quick review of what we've been doing. 00:05:50.020 |
Yeah, you might have to just do it from there. 00:06:24.380 |
So first thing I want to look at is just as a quick review, remember when the seven judgments 00:06:29.180 |
started, the seal judgments first was opened up. 00:06:32.500 |
You remember from chapter six, the seal judgment, chapter eight through nine, the trumpets, 00:06:40.260 |
And in between the sixth and seventh seal, there's an interlude consisting of two visions, 00:06:48.980 |
And then before the seventh start, we have the promise of the 144,000 Jews who will be 00:06:55.900 |
And then following them was a multitude, myriads upon myriads, and all of them leading to worship. 00:07:05.520 |
And then right before the seventh trumpet judgments, the intense judgment opens up. 00:07:11.020 |
It begins to, again, there's a brief interlude promising that so many number of people are 00:07:25.660 |
And then following that, between the sixth and seventh trumpet, there is also an interlude 00:07:33.860 |
The angel with the little book, which is what we're going to be covering today, and then 00:07:40.620 |
And then after chapter 11, we're going to, or at the end of chapter 11, we're going to 00:07:47.940 |
And then it's going to lead us into the bowl judgments. 00:07:49.940 |
But the bowl judgment is a little bit different than the other two. 00:07:53.140 |
The bowl judgment is going to get to the sixth, and then there is no interlude. 00:07:58.180 |
Meaning that from that moment on, the period is going to speed up, and then the intensity 00:08:03.260 |
of the judgment is going to be intensified until the end. 00:08:07.060 |
So that's kind of like a broad outline, not the whole book of Revelation, but the three 00:08:11.220 |
different sets of judgments that God had ordained. 00:08:15.340 |
So if you remember, the first set of judgments of the seals, they were natural disasters 00:08:22.580 |
It wasn't directly related to men, if you remember. 00:08:25.960 |
So people do die, about a fourth of mankind, right? 00:08:30.460 |
Fourth of the earth, fourth of everything is affected by that. 00:08:33.900 |
And then the second judgment, the trumpet judgments, are judgments that are directly 00:08:38.660 |
So again, one is natural disaster, second is disease, very specific judgments coming 00:08:45.420 |
And then the third judgment are the bowls, where the first one was a fourth, the second 00:08:54.020 |
group was a third, and then the fourth bowls is going to affect all of mankind. 00:08:58.820 |
So you can kind of see the intensity of the judgments that's increasing until we get to 00:09:04.580 |
So that's kind of like a broad outline of what's going on, just to give you a heads 00:09:08.900 |
And then after that, after the bowl judgments, it'll talk about the millennium, and we'll 00:09:15.060 |
It begins, the chapter 10 begins by three separate times, an angel is introduced to 00:09:20.380 |
us in the Revelations, either a mighty angel or a strong angel. 00:09:25.300 |
The word in the Greek is the same, but for some reason ESV decided to translate five 00:09:33.540 |
So we're introduced to this mighty angel, we're not sure if it's the same mighty angel, 00:09:37.380 |
but again, it signifies that this was not an ordinary angel, this is not one of many 00:09:42.180 |
angels, this was a very specific angel that was ordained for this purpose, and it is described 00:09:49.620 |
The description of this angel here seems to parallel Daniel chapter 12, verse five, and 00:09:57.100 |
Daniel from seven says, "And I heard the man clothed in linen who was above the waters 00:10:01.020 |
of the stream, he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him 00:10:06.340 |
who lives forever that it would be for time, times, and time and a half, or half a time, 00:10:12.980 |
and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these 00:10:19.700 |
Then I said, 'Oh my Lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?' 00:10:22.580 |
He said, 'Go your way, Daniel, your words are shut up and sealed up until the time of 00:10:28.740 |
So, the scene that we're seeing here with the angel and the interaction between the 00:10:32.140 |
mighty angel and John is very similar to the scene that we see in Daniel chapter 12. 00:10:38.180 |
So remember I told you we're halfway through, right? 00:10:42.080 |
We're halfway through the judgments, and part of the reason why, again, if you hold to the 00:10:48.420 |
pre-trib or mid-trib or post-trib, the seven-year tribulation, you see we're right halfway through, 00:10:54.860 |
and it says for time, times, and a half a time, that's one plus two, the times in plural, 00:11:01.580 |
they translate that as two, so that's three, and then half a time is three and a half. 00:11:06.460 |
So the theologians believe that we're at the halfway mark, right, halfway mark of the seven 00:11:12.420 |
years of tribulation, and then the second half is where the judgment really picks up. 00:11:17.660 |
Okay, so if you read ahead, I think you already know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't 00:11:23.020 |
read ahead, can you imagine the things that we've been reading and studying up to this 00:11:26.460 |
point that that was the easy part, the real heavy judgment is coming on the second half, 00:11:32.980 |
And so this brief interlude that we're going to have, at least as given to us, the revealing 00:11:41.520 |
of the scroll, this mighty angel, and the two witnesses that we're going to be looking 00:11:46.300 |
at chapter 11, that is kind of an interlude to prepare for the judgment that's coming. 00:11:55.180 |
The description of the angel that is written down for us basically signifies the magnitude 00:12:04.700 |
In fact, because of the magnitude of how this angel is described, some people have said 00:12:12.420 |
But I think there's clear evidence that this is not Christ. 00:12:15.820 |
Again, this is an angel of the Lord, one, because other angels have been described as 00:12:21.140 |
being mighty, and secondly, this is an angel that actually comes down from heaven, so this 00:12:27.940 |
His second coming of Christ is prophesied at a later time, so this is not like an in-between 00:12:33.700 |
coming and then he's going to come really later. 00:12:35.420 |
So this is not Christ, but again, the description of this angel as a mighty angel, that he's 00:12:41.260 |
so big, he's described two separate times where his feet touches the sea and the land. 00:12:46.140 |
Again, so if you remember the initial picture that I put up there, if you may, if you, okay, 00:12:53.540 |
You see the angel, how he's touching the land and the sea? 00:12:58.420 |
And if you notice the size of the angel, again, that's how he's described for us in this passage. 00:13:08.800 |
We know that last time we studied that there were, where am I? 00:13:20.660 |
Okay, so the last time we studied that there were two particular angels that have been 00:13:37.700 |
Gabriel is often seen as the messenger, and he shows up in the book of Daniel too. 00:13:44.620 |
But again, there's no ordinary angel, meaning that the message that he has to give to John, 00:13:50.660 |
John the apostle, was not just an ordinary message, that this is at the end. 00:13:58.080 |
And obviously he's holding in his hand a scroll that's already open. 00:14:01.180 |
So again, this is a very important angel in God's kingdom, right? 00:14:05.860 |
He's described as having a rainbow on top of his head, and his leg or his feet with 00:14:12.460 |
fire, and his face was shining with the sun representing his glory. 00:14:17.460 |
But again, typically when we talk about rainbow, in the Bible, it's talking about, reminds 00:14:22.040 |
us about the covenant relationship that God promised to the world, that he was not going 00:14:33.640 |
And typically fire symbolizes judgment in the scripture. 00:14:38.100 |
So this angel, again, there's a promise of mercy, but also promise of judgment, which 00:14:42.700 |
we're going to be getting to in a little bit. 00:14:48.760 |
The angel holds in his hands a little scroll. 00:14:52.500 |
This is not the same scroll that was opened with the seals. 00:14:55.740 |
This is a mini scroll that was part of the opening of the larger scroll, and he holds 00:15:03.060 |
And unlike the scroll that is mentioned in chapter five, that was fastened with seven 00:15:12.940 |
Again, meaning that what the content of this scroll is already being played out in history. 00:15:29.940 |
And again, the significance, other than the fact that this angel is a gigantic angel, 00:15:35.820 |
is a powerful angel, the fact that he has one leg on the sea, one leg in the land, it 00:15:42.140 |
signifies the universality of his message, right? 00:15:45.740 |
The God's sovereignty over land and earth, and again, it visually shows that God is a 00:15:55.760 |
So even in the description of this angel, it's described as God being powerful. 00:16:03.180 |
So John sees him, and then as soon as he sees him, he hears a loud voice, like a lion, and 00:16:08.540 |
again, God's voice is described as a roaring of a lion in Amos chapter 3, 8. 00:16:14.860 |
So this is not God speaking, but it sounds like God, because this is a messenger of God. 00:16:23.060 |
And then when he speaks, it kind of begins this chain reaction of the thunders. 00:16:28.820 |
The seven thunders begin to rumble, and they speak. 00:16:32.660 |
And thunder, again, often in Scripture signifies retribution or judgment. 00:16:40.000 |
So again, the angel appears, he sees the scroll, and then the angel begins to speak, and then 00:16:45.980 |
it kind of begins the – gets the ball rolling on this judgment. 00:16:51.060 |
So whenever the idea of the thunder, the imagery of the thunder is mentioned, it's always equated 00:16:56.540 |
with God's judgment coming, at least in the book of Revelation, right? 00:17:00.140 |
8.5, it follows with the casting of fire on the earth. 00:17:03.440 |
Chapter 11.19 is associated with the seven trumpets and the plague. 00:17:07.660 |
And then chapter 16.18 is connected with the final bowl of God's judgment, right? 00:17:14.220 |
So in other words, when the angel speaks, the judgment begins to start to come out, 00:17:21.860 |
We're not told exactly what's happening yet, but this angel is sent to begin this 00:17:34.900 |
But in verse 4, when he hears it, and he goes and he hears the rumbling, and we're not 00:17:42.140 |
But it was intense enough where John felt the need to put it down. 00:17:46.380 |
And he was about to write it down, and then the voice comes and he says, "Do not write 00:17:54.180 |
And then it says not to write it down, which is in direct contrast to what we see in 1.19, 00:18:01.020 |
where the Lord comes to him and specifically tells him to write down what he sees so that 00:18:06.860 |
But here, whatever the content is, and now we can speculate what it is, we don't know, 00:18:13.300 |
It must be related to something that's coming that he does not want it to be revealed. 00:18:17.660 |
And he says to seal it and not to write it down, which is not uncommon because we see 00:18:24.500 |
in other parts of the scripture where God does tell his disciples not to make it known. 00:18:30.580 |
2 Corinthians 12, 3-4, Paul talks about a man who was caught up in the third heaven, 00:18:35.580 |
and he says, "I know that this man was caught up in the paradise, whether in the body or 00:18:41.620 |
And he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. 00:18:46.260 |
So again, we don't know if it's the same thing, but we know that in that passage, Paul, again, 00:18:51.020 |
tells us that there are things that God allowed him to see, but he didn't want to communicate. 00:18:57.060 |
We see that again in Daniel 12-4, the parallel passage, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words 00:19:05.100 |
Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." 00:19:12.700 |
We don't know what the content is, but what is the reason behind why God wouldn't reveal 00:19:23.900 |
There are things that God would not reveal to us. 00:19:25.780 |
What are some things that God doesn't reveal to us on purpose? 00:19:32.980 |
He said that the time of His coming, He said, "You will not know." 00:19:39.140 |
But there's a lot of other things that He hides from us. 00:19:52.420 |
I know we have Google, but Google doesn't have everything. 00:19:58.740 |
There's a lot of things you don't know when you're going to die. 00:20:02.860 |
You don't know, at least until you do get married, and you don't know who you're going 00:20:07.340 |
You don't know what your life is going to be like, like the hardship that may be coming. 00:20:15.900 |
And there are certain things that God deliberately shut the door, and He doesn't want us to know. 00:20:23.460 |
So we may be curious, but we don't know exactly what it is. 00:20:26.800 |
But in God's sovereign desire and His sovereign knowledge that He said whatever it was contained 00:20:34.860 |
And my guess is it had to be something about the – maybe something about the judgment 00:20:50.260 |
The intensity of the persecution coming upon Christians because of what we see in the second 00:21:00.100 |
But at the second half of the judgment, He says before the final judgment ends, final 00:21:04.980 |
bowl judgment ends, persecution is going to increase like no other, right, among Christians. 00:21:10.860 |
Now some people who believe that pre-trib rapture, that we're going to be safe from 00:21:14.480 |
all of this, and only people who are going to suffer during this period are Christians 00:21:19.160 |
who came to Christ late during the tribulation. 00:21:21.840 |
Some people, if you believe in pre-trib rapture, that's what they believe. 00:21:26.100 |
Now I think that Christ is going to – that we're going to make it through the tribulation, 00:21:31.820 |
meaning that church is going to go through this tribulation. 00:21:35.500 |
And that this – the judgment that's going to come upon the earth, the final judgment, 00:21:40.860 |
before it comes, He's going to purify the church. 00:21:43.700 |
And only those who have real faith, true faith, are going to survive at the end of that, right? 00:21:49.280 |
And so maybe my guess is, the reason why this is withheld, is that maybe there is written 00:21:55.060 |
in there specific knowledge of who will and what specific and who and what churches are 00:22:02.860 |
And I think just like He doesn't reveal to us the hardship that may be coming down 00:22:06.820 |
the line, if we knew it ahead of time, there's a lot of things we wouldn't do, right? 00:22:12.020 |
God gives us the strength to do it when we get there, but if we knew it ahead of time, 00:22:18.500 |
There's a lot of things I wouldn't have done, right? 00:22:21.060 |
If I knew ahead of time how difficult that was going to be. 00:22:27.380 |
Considering the context, considering like what was being said, that it was the thunder 00:22:31.820 |
that was rumbling and it was saying, and what the thunder said, He said, "Do not reveal 00:22:40.180 |
That possibly He's talking about what's going to happen to Christians before the end, right? 00:22:51.740 |
After He gives that instruction, the angel raises his right hand and swears that there 00:23:00.480 |
Now we saw, I think in chapter five or chapter six, where remember the martyrs who were martyred 00:23:13.000 |
That they would be vindicated, and so they're crying out to God, and He says, "God is coming 00:23:16.320 |
in response to the cry of those who have been martyred." 00:23:20.560 |
So Daniel 1, we see the same thing where they're crying out, "How long will it be before these 00:23:27.840 |
And then we see again in Revelation, in that passage that I just quoted, "How long, sovereign 00:23:32.240 |
Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" 00:23:37.900 |
So it almost seems like when He says there's going to be no more delay, that this is in 00:23:42.980 |
response to the prayers of the saints, right? 00:23:48.220 |
That all the Christians who've been longing and waiting for Him to come, He says He's 00:23:54.660 |
And again, in the context, all the Christians who are suffering, who are being persecuted 00:24:00.160 |
and having hardship, and they want the suffering to end, that God is going to respond to that 00:24:05.700 |
and say, "Now, God is going to act, and there will be no more delay." 00:24:13.160 |
So the promise of not delaying is a blessing to those who are crying out for relief, but 00:24:19.240 |
it is also a warning that the period of patience for the world to repent will also soon come 00:24:26.120 |
Now, again, I'm not sure if this is related to the next part when He says, "Eat of it, 00:24:31.800 |
and it will be sweet in your mouth like honey, and it will be bitter in your stomach." 00:24:36.800 |
But it seems to me, it seems to fit when He says there will be no more delay. 00:24:40.900 |
It means that His promise of bringing the final judgment is going to come. 00:24:45.960 |
So for those who are suffering and calling out to God, obviously it would be sweet to 00:24:50.820 |
But it also means the period of patience, of repentance, that that period is also going 00:24:57.400 |
And remember, up to this point, even in the midst of intense judgment, God is waiting 00:25:04.520 |
But when He says He will no longer delay, remember we talked about that in Peter's writing? 00:25:10.840 |
He said that the reason why He's delaying is because He doesn't want people to perish. 00:25:15.680 |
That we're living in a period of grace where all that God is doing is to bring the full 00:25:21.680 |
number of the elect to come into the kingdom. 00:25:25.240 |
So when He says He's no longer delaying, it means that that period is over. 00:25:29.360 |
That God is no longer, there's no reason for Him to wait. 00:25:32.400 |
That now the judgment that's coming upon mankind is strictly for the purpose of judgment. 00:25:40.080 |
So it is sweet in a sense that if we've been waiting and longing for Him, that He's going 00:25:45.720 |
to answer our prayers, but it's also going to be bitter because it's going to be full-on 00:25:53.040 |
The wrath that He's been holding back, He's going to finally unleash completely. 00:25:56.440 |
So as intense as judgment was up to this point, it was all restrained judgment. 00:26:01.440 |
It was all judgment hoping to bring repentance. 00:26:09.760 |
And He says, the angel says that the mystery of God, that He promises that the mystery 00:26:20.560 |
So the revelation of the gospel, Colossians 1, 25 and 26, is referred to as the mystery. 00:26:30.820 |
And again in Colossians 2, 2-4, Christ Himself is referred to as God's mystery. 00:26:42.560 |
So when He says the mystery of God is going to be unleashed, meaning that God's final 00:26:48.920 |
purpose of what He's been doing through history, through human history, His promise of the 00:26:53.740 |
seed coming, the establishment of Israel, Christ, His suffering, His resurrection, the 00:26:59.260 |
period of the church, evangelism, tribulation, that everything is going to be finalized, 00:27:06.140 |
Meaning so whenever we, again, typically when we think about the gospel, we think about 00:27:12.640 |
Which is His grace, His mercy, because that's where we live. 00:27:16.180 |
You and I are living during a period where God is being gracious to the world. 00:27:20.540 |
And as much as people complain, like how can a loving God allow 9/11? 00:27:24.540 |
How can a loving God allow this and that to happen? 00:27:27.180 |
According to God's perspective, He says, because He's loving, He's allowing these things to 00:27:33.700 |
Because He's loving, because we're living in a period of grace, that we have opportunities 00:27:37.800 |
to bring people to Christ, that they would, they still have opportunity to repent and 00:27:43.700 |
So God's perspective and the biblical perspective, exactly the opposite of the questions that 00:27:54.860 |
Because He's loving, He's withholding Himself. 00:27:57.860 |
And the little bits and pieces of the wrath that we see is all for the purpose of bringing 00:28:07.100 |
But when that final day comes, when the mystery is going to be finally fulfilled, He's no 00:28:14.820 |
Because that period of grace will be done and wrath is going to come before the final 00:28:26.340 |
And finally, John is told to take the open scroll and take it from the angel and he is 00:28:35.260 |
Oftentimes in Scripture, when a prophet or servant of God is told to eat, it means to 00:28:42.980 |
In other words, he's not telling John to just regurgitate what I said. 00:28:49.140 |
And that's the difference between a prophet versus somebody who's just memorizing Scripture 00:28:58.340 |
And you don't have to be a pastor to know what that means. 00:29:00.340 |
You can have friends who just memorize Scripture and they just have words that they throw at 00:29:04.300 |
you, but they themselves don't really believe it. 00:29:07.820 |
There's a huge difference between somebody who's been convicted and changed by it and 00:29:17.180 |
That's a difference between somebody who is a witness of Christ and somebody who's just 00:29:20.180 |
regurgitating information, that this is the gospel that I heard, I'm just giving it to 00:29:25.260 |
So the prophet John, the apostle, basically says, "Before you go and spread it, you need 00:29:34.660 |
But he also says, "You're going to eat of it, but it's going to be bitter in your stomach." 00:29:37.980 |
And again, we're not exactly sure what he's eating and why it's sweet in his mouth and 00:29:50.500 |
The sweetness of the word turning bitter in the stomach may be reference to the promise 00:29:54.140 |
of the revelation of God's mystery not being delayed any longer, which I mentioned already. 00:29:58.220 |
Again, this is just my guess that maybe that's what it's referring to. 00:30:03.500 |
The sweetness will be the promise of vindication and deliverance for God's people, but along 00:30:08.820 |
with it will come severe persecution and hardship for Christians before the final judgment comes. 00:30:14.940 |
I'm not saying that this is what he's talking about, but the scripture does talk about the 00:30:23.340 |
And there are other parts where the word of God can also become bitter. 00:30:26.500 |
So can you think about a situation where the word of God or something being sweet initially 00:30:42.300 |
Every temptation we face, it's tempting because it's sweet initially, but once you eat it 00:30:54.660 |
If it wasn't sweet, we wouldn't be tempted, right? 00:30:58.740 |
It's sweet initially, but once you've digested it, it becomes bitter in your stomach and 00:31:07.180 |
The whole world can be described that way, right? 00:31:14.580 |
It's pleasing to the eyes, but once you digest it, it becomes bitter. 00:31:24.660 |
The reason why they're so appealing is because their words are sweet. 00:31:28.060 |
They twist God's word and they take basically all the frosting on the desserts, right? 00:31:34.860 |
They don't give you the meat and they just kind of give you whatever the itching ears 00:31:39.780 |
want to hear and they're just kind of plucking out what's best and giving it to people and 00:31:46.060 |
So it's sweet in their mouth, but once it get into your stomach, right, it's unhealthy. 00:31:52.180 |
And that's typically what the false prophets were known for. 00:31:54.740 |
They were constantly telling people what they want to hear instead of what they needed to 00:32:01.420 |
But sometimes even the truth can be sweet and bitter, right? 00:32:09.220 |
In what way can the word of God be sweet and bitter other than what I just said? 00:32:16.820 |
I could think of it's sweet because of salvation to me, but it's also bitter because it means 00:32:23.020 |
the people that I love weren't saved, that they're going to be under condemnation, right? 00:32:33.500 |
So I'll give you some time in your small group to talk about that, right? 00:32:37.940 |
But all of this that we're talking about in chapter 11 is to prepare us for what's coming 00:32:43.700 |
So what I want to do is what I'm going to ask you to do, hopefully you'll do it, okay? 00:32:49.820 |
Next week we're going to be studying chapter 11, but we're going to have a whole month 00:32:57.140 |
If you kind of got lost in the first 11th chapter study, I really want to encourage 00:33:03.420 |
You don't have to go back and try to figure out what the red horse and the pale horse 00:33:08.780 |
You don't have to go read commentaries, but just be familiar with it. 00:33:12.620 |
In fact, I think we miss the whole point sometimes if we try so hard to figure out when and how 00:33:20.980 |
and it is a pre-trip, post-trip that you really miss the whole point because, you know, I 00:33:26.500 |
think the early church when they heard it, I'll bet you a lot of this stuff was mysterious 00:33:32.580 |
But I think there's a reason why it was given to us in this way, because it was meant to 00:33:38.820 |
Remember we talked about that, how God communicates? 00:33:42.020 |
Like I can communicate with my words and I can paint a picture for you, right? 00:33:46.620 |
And you can look at that and then you can say, "Oh, that's what it means." 00:33:48.780 |
You can watch a movie, hear music, and all of this has different effects on you, right? 00:33:55.780 |
And some people maybe lean more toward just, "Okay, I'd rather have somebody just explain 00:34:00.900 |
And then I know a lot of you learn a lot better visually if you just look at it and maybe 00:34:05.900 |
the painting or something, you can see the sadness or the joy of the painting right when 00:34:15.580 |
If you hear certain songs with certain kind of melody, it could bring back memories, it 00:34:24.340 |
So all of these things are forms of communication that makes an impression on us, whether it's 00:34:28.460 |
through hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, whatever it may be. 00:34:32.140 |
Book of Revelation was written to make an impression. 00:34:36.820 |
And the impression is, right, the judgment that's coming is intense. 00:34:46.660 |
The end conclusion is the judgment is going to come where he's no longer going to withhold 00:34:53.020 |
Because all this time he's been gracious with the world and then after that is going to 00:35:01.940 |
So even as you're reading it, if you don't understand all the details of it, I don't 00:35:05.700 |
think it's, you know, I don't think you're missing what God intended just because you 00:35:12.380 |
I think the goal of it is to make that impression. 00:35:14.500 |
That impression is that it will cause a sense of urgency, that we would see the magnificence 00:35:26.060 |
Even in the content, even as we're studying last week, right? 00:35:29.580 |
Even in the midst of all of that, he says he's waiting for the sinners to repent, right? 00:35:34.620 |
And all of these things would make an impression. 00:35:36.180 |
So I want to really encourage you to go and just read, right? 00:35:42.280 |
And then hopefully you'll prepare yourself during the month of August to really come 00:35:46.840 |
with a, wow, this bold judgment is intense and at least know the bits and pieces and 00:35:51.900 |
details so that we would be impacted the way that God intended it to, okay? 00:35:57.100 |
And again, let me just review the questions, okay, before I let you go. 00:36:03.300 |
Do you think you are actively engaged in the spiritual battle we are called to today? 00:36:10.420 |
And again, as I mentioned already in the beginning, we can be at Bible study every single week 00:36:18.260 |
and just mentally check in and check out, right? 00:36:23.960 |
So I hope that you'll take some time to really think through, not are you coming to church, 00:36:30.900 |
are you faithful in doing these things, but how sober are you, you know, how aware are 00:36:37.300 |
And maybe part of the reason why all these spiritual things in Revelation sound so weird 00:36:44.600 |
We think about angels that we don't, the demonic world, the angelic world just doesn't seem 00:36:48.060 |
real to us because we just don't think about it, right? 00:36:51.700 |
And maybe we should be, not maybe, we should be thinking about it, right? 00:36:56.000 |
Because the Lord tells us that we are engaged in spiritual battle whether we know it or 00:37:01.260 |
Number two, why do you think God keeps certain truths from us? 00:37:05.260 |
And then I already kind of discussed that with you, take some time to discuss it with 00:37:09.420 |
If Jesus was to no longer delay and come tomorrow, how would that affect the way you live today? 00:37:14.620 |
So obviously we studied where he promises that he's no longer going to delay. 00:37:22.600 |
He's making that promise halfway into the tribulation and then he's saying that the 00:37:29.780 |
And let's say if we were, if we heard that and he says he's no longer going to delay, 00:37:33.460 |
which means it could be tomorrow, it could be the next day, but that period of grace 00:37:37.740 |
has passed and he's going to fulfill what he started with us in our salvation. 00:37:43.760 |
If that's the case, how would that affect what you're doing today, right? 00:37:52.020 |
Or is that something that's like, oh, we can't live like he's going to come tomorrow, right? 00:37:56.280 |
So take some time to discuss with your small group. 00:37:59.600 |
And again, next week, one more study in chapter 11 and then the week after that we're doing 00:38:07.480 |
So if you know people that for whatever reason they feel lost, make sure that they're there 00:38:15.560 |
All right, let me pray for us and then I'll let you guys go. 00:38:24.760 |
Merciful and loving Father, I thank you for my brothers and sisters. 00:38:28.240 |
I thank you, Lord God, that even in the midst of a long day and being physically tired, 00:38:36.440 |
and I know Father that we are here because we're wrestling and striving and sometimes, 00:38:42.120 |
Lord God, we feel defeated because it's so hard to stay sober. 00:38:47.240 |
But I pray, Father, that the Holy Spirit that you've entrusted and placed in us would help 00:38:53.560 |
us in our weakness, that even when we can't pray or have a hard time praying, that it 00:39:01.800 |
We thank you for interceding for us when we are weak. 00:39:05.780 |
We thank you for being gracious, Lord God, when we stray. 00:39:09.560 |
But we pray, Father God, that you would help us as you've given us your spirit, not to 00:39:14.400 |
wallow in defeat, not to accept mediocrity or lukewarmness, but help us to wrestle and 00:39:20.840 |
to struggle and to fight and run this race, Lord, as to win. 00:39:25.640 |
Help us to be aware of the spiritual battle that we are in, that all that you are teaching 00:39:29.900 |
us through revelation, Lord God, would have the intended purpose that you've had for all 00:39:36.240 |
We pray that you would bless our small group time, that through it, Lord, that we may be