back to index2017-07-27 Revelation Bible Study Review ch 1-11
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We're going to be looking at chapter 1 through 11. 00:00:11.720 |
One is to, so that at the end of the Bible study or end of the review, that you will 00:00:15.680 |
understand the major theme of chapters 1 through 11. 00:00:23.800 |
Two, that you'll have a general flow of the book. 00:00:27.780 |
So if we say, you know, what's happening and what event takes place after what, that you 00:00:33.080 |
So in order to do that, at least have some general knowledge. 00:00:35.880 |
You don't have to have specific knowledge of every single judgment that is mentioned 00:00:41.440 |
in Revelation, but hopefully you'll be able to distinguish between the third trumpet and 00:00:52.720 |
And the third goal is I want you to be specific enough. 00:00:55.720 |
So if I said chapter 3, that you know what is contained in chapter 3. 00:00:59.720 |
If I say chapter 11, you know what's contained in chapter 11. 00:01:02.900 |
So if you're able to know the major theme, know the general flow of the book and be able 00:01:07.600 |
to say from memory what's happening in each of these books, that by the time we get to 00:01:18.320 |
That we're going to be jumping on top of this. 00:01:19.760 |
But if you don't get that, you know, obviously we're going to keep adding to this the different 00:01:23.120 |
judgments and then it's just going to, all the judgments are going to start to sound 00:01:28.720 |
So let me pray for us and then we'll jump in. 00:01:31.480 |
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening and allowing our church to come together and 00:01:41.800 |
We pray that the things that we've already studied that you bring to memory and more 00:01:46.160 |
than just our mind, that it would convict our hearts and move us, Lord God, toward our 00:01:53.400 |
So we pray Father that your word would bear fruit and what you have intended that it would 00:02:03.480 |
So before we get in, I want to get into the introduction of the book like we did last 00:02:12.560 |
He says in verse three, so what I encourage you to do, whether it's your laptop or your 00:02:19.200 |
phone or if it's a physical Bible, to open it up to revelation because we're going to 00:02:27.600 |
And at the second part of it, I'm going to ask you to put it away so hopefully you can 00:02:30.120 |
remember it, but this part you can have it open. 00:02:33.640 |
So the purpose of the revelation in chapter one, verse three says, "Blessed is the one 00:02:38.720 |
who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep 00:02:46.560 |
So there's three things that he mentions, right? 00:02:56.400 |
And this is true, obviously, in everything that we study in the Bible, that we would 00:03:03.360 |
That you would listen to the teaching, that you would listen to the reading, you would, 00:03:06.600 |
you would, oh, sorry, you would read it for yourself and then you would hear the teaching. 00:03:13.720 |
God didn't reveal the revelation, book of revelations, so that you can just say, "Oh, 00:03:18.320 |
okay, you know, this is what God says about the end times." 00:03:21.160 |
The purpose of it is, what is the application behind this? 00:03:27.640 |
How was God trying to move the early church through this writing, right? 00:03:37.920 |
So where does the transformation take place in our lives, right? 00:03:46.280 |
In 1 Thessalonians 4, 2 through 5, we are warned and encouraged and told that, "For 00:03:52.800 |
you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the 00:03:55.720 |
night while people are saying there's peace and security, then sudden destruction will 00:03:59.680 |
come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and they will not escape. 00:04:04.360 |
But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief." 00:04:10.440 |
So the book of Revelation, who was it written for in the early church? 00:04:15.520 |
What kind of context were they in, the early church, that received this letter? 00:04:21.440 |
What was the political spiritual environment? 00:04:28.540 |
We're going to talk about that in a little bit. 00:04:30.480 |
Where are the seven churches that he writes this letter to? 00:04:41.720 |
So some of you guys might remember when we were studying the book of Acts, remember Apostle 00:04:44.920 |
Paul when he was making his second missionary journey? 00:04:54.920 |
The Holy Spirit tells him not to go into Asia Minor, right? 00:04:58.280 |
And then he goes up to Bithynia, and then while he's up at Bithynia, there's a dream 00:05:05.320 |
And so the Holy Spirit deliberately keeps him from Asia Minor, and during that period 00:05:10.240 |
we find out there was intense persecution happening in Asia Minor. 00:05:14.000 |
So it was kind of where Apostle Paul, it was not a right time for him to be in that area. 00:05:20.200 |
So this area where the seven churches, where the revelation was written for, was undergoing 00:05:27.640 |
So what effect would this have, this revelation have to these churches? 00:05:41.360 |
Somebody's in intense suffering, saying, "No, Jesus is coming," right? 00:05:45.000 |
To hold on, to cause them to persevere, to give them hope that the final outcome isn't 00:05:52.800 |
The final outcome is going to be victory in Christ, even unto death. 00:05:57.880 |
Even if you die, Christ is going to be victorious. 00:06:00.480 |
And then there's parts of it where it says they're crying out to God, right? 00:06:03.440 |
There's martyrs who are crying out to God, and God says He will not delay. 00:06:07.440 |
So those who are the ones who are persecuting and causing harm, that God's going to take 00:06:13.840 |
So he's writing this letter as a source of encouragement, perseverance, to strengthen 00:06:21.040 |
So there's a very practical application to everything that he's saying. 00:06:27.960 |
You know, I know some of you guys are really curious what's going to happen at the end, 00:06:31.040 |
so let me just give you a hint of what's going to happen. 00:06:34.560 |
Obviously there is that effect on us, but there's a very practical effect on the church, 00:06:41.000 |
To keep them sober, to persevere, even unto death, for them basically not to quit, right? 00:06:46.420 |
So having said that, even though we may not be experiencing intense persecution as Christians, 00:06:53.560 |
at least in this period, it is meant to sober us, to let us know that this is not just some 00:07:00.500 |
statement of theology, that this is what is going to happen. 00:07:04.500 |
And so if we believe this, how does it affect the Christian? 00:07:09.900 |
Knowing that the world is going to come to an end at some point, right? 00:07:18.100 |
And then I think one of the questions that I asked you in the beginning was, if you knew 00:07:21.420 |
that Christ was going to come, you know, soon, tomorrow, next month, or next year, what is 00:07:29.100 |
And I think universally, everybody said, we think about who to share the gospel with, 00:07:34.740 |
And I think that's the effect that it ought to have on us when we consider and think about 00:07:42.020 |
It gives us courage to live a life worthy of the gospel. 00:07:45.620 |
And then it gives us a sense of urgency to preach the gospel, right? 00:07:49.420 |
So the goal of our study, again, as an introduction, is to read, to hear, and to keep, right? 00:07:59.820 |
And again, in Revelation 16, 15, it says the same thing. 00:08:05.540 |
Blessed is the one who stays away, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about 00:08:10.420 |
In other words, it's a challenge for the church to stay awake, right? 00:08:15.580 |
Like, oh my gosh, I wasn't thinking about his coming at all. 00:08:19.300 |
And everything that we're pursuing, right, was for nothing. 00:08:23.460 |
So don't live as if we're part of the world, right? 00:08:33.020 |
And if you've never heard this before, it's probably, I'm assuming a lot of it went over 00:08:39.140 |
But whatever commentaries, maybe some of you guys have studied Bibles. 00:08:43.040 |
Maybe you have a Reformation study Bible or John MacArthur study Bible. 00:08:46.840 |
Whatever study Bible you have, they have a bent toward how they interpret the book of 00:08:52.940 |
And there's four major bents that we cover, right? 00:08:57.180 |
One is called the predatorist contemporary historical approach. 00:09:00.900 |
Basically this approach, again, we went over this before. 00:09:05.340 |
Predatorist approach basically is they believe that all that is prophesied in the book of 00:09:10.820 |
Revelation was fulfilled in the first century, right? 00:09:16.180 |
They believe that everything happened already. 00:09:19.860 |
And so when they study the book of Revelation, they're going to find an anti-Christ is Nero, 00:09:27.380 |
Or they'll try to find a first century application for all of it. 00:09:31.580 |
And so what we get out of it is principles, right? 00:09:36.700 |
Just like we studied the Old Testament, what happened to the nation of Israel, they didn't 00:09:42.020 |
So that's how they study the book of Revelation. 00:09:54.920 |
The second approach is a historical approach. 00:09:58.000 |
The historical approach in comparison to the predatorist, the difference is the predatorist 00:10:02.140 |
believe that everything happened in the first century. 00:10:05.340 |
The historical approach is that things have been unraveling throughout history. 00:10:10.380 |
So instead of saying Nero is the anti-Christ, they may say some world leader is an anti-Christ. 00:10:16.500 |
Meaning maybe there was a period when the Catholic church was really corrupt and the 00:10:26.660 |
So the application, so the historical view and the predatorist view is similar, except 00:10:32.300 |
the predatorists find the application all in the first century. 00:10:35.940 |
Where the historical view will find that it's unraveling throughout history. 00:10:40.820 |
So I remember a long time ago, people who didn't like Ronald Reagan, they were trying 00:10:45.940 |
to put his number together and say his number somehow, his name somehow spelled out the 00:10:51.160 |
number 666 and there was a bunch of people going around saying he's anti-Christ or whatever. 00:10:59.860 |
Whenever you see people saying that that's anti-Christ, this is anti-Christ, historically, 00:11:15.940 |
Futurist basically is that, I think I shared with you, whenever you study prophecy, there's 00:11:29.340 |
So when John is writing or this letter is being written to the seven churches, there 00:11:36.300 |
There is a church of Ephesus, there's church of Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Laodicea, all 00:11:42.160 |
And so the problem that he is addressing is an actual problem that he's addressing at 00:11:48.740 |
So there's, and same thing with Isaiah, when Isaiah prophesies about the Babylonians and 00:11:53.340 |
coming and taking them to captivity, there is a historical application to what he's saying. 00:12:00.540 |
And then the second application is when Christ comes, he fulfills, again, the second portion 00:12:08.100 |
of that, because Christ comes and he fulfills the prophecies partially, not completely. 00:12:14.180 |
So just like our salvation, we are saved, but we are being saved. 00:12:27.700 |
So Christ started it, but the ultimate fulfillment is at the very end, when Christ comes at the 00:12:37.380 |
There's this historical event that's taking place, there is a fulfillment in Christ, and 00:12:43.820 |
then there is the future when he comes a second time. 00:12:47.980 |
And so that's when we talk about the end times. 00:12:49.740 |
So the whole period from Christ to the end is considered generally the end times. 00:12:57.060 |
But specific application of the end times that we're talking about is the very end, 00:13:01.780 |
talking about the tribulation during the time of millennium, the right throne judgment at 00:13:08.100 |
So we believe that, again, the way that we're interpreting this is that there's a future 00:13:12.700 |
event that's going to take place with the tribulation and the rapture and the millennium. 00:13:18.380 |
And so that's basically what the, not completely futurist, but that's probably the closest 00:13:24.020 |
thing that will, you know, the things that at least I've been talking about related to 00:13:34.100 |
Idealist approach basically is none of this is meant to be interpreted literally. 00:13:46.380 |
So, you know, a thousand represents something, you know, 144,000 represents something else. 00:13:51.340 |
So they're always looking for hidden meaning, right? 00:13:57.720 |
The reason why it's important for you to know this is because if you study the book of Revelation, 00:14:04.700 |
no matter who you're studying, they're going to have one of these bents, right? 00:14:09.120 |
So if you read a passage and say, "Hey, we studied this, but then this commentary says 00:14:13.020 |
this," it's because they're bent on one of these things, okay? 00:14:39.580 |
It says, "Post-tribulational premillennialism." 00:14:53.420 |
How come she's sitting way back there, she can read it? 00:15:07.340 |
So all I want you to do is pay attention to the big picture. 00:15:11.300 |
The post-trib, tribulational premillennialism, this is the timeline that I think I lean toward. 00:15:21.540 |
And so as I'm studying it, and that's kind of like what I'm kind of suggesting to you 00:15:27.500 |
So millennium, we're going to get to that in Revelation chapter 21, where all of this 00:15:32.780 |
stuff that we're talking about, when all the judgments, when the seal judgment, the 00:15:39.100 |
trumpet judgment, the bowl judgment ends, at the end, there's a rapture, there is a 00:15:46.180 |
Armageddon that takes place right here, and then we all enter the thousand-year reign 00:15:51.700 |
Now, whether that's going to be a literal thousand years or not, but where Christ comes 00:15:56.340 |
and He establishes His earthly kingdom through the nation of Israel for a thousand years. 00:16:02.940 |
Again, whether it's literal thousand years, I'm not sure. 00:16:06.360 |
But at the end of it, there's a white throne judgment, great white throne judgment, where 00:16:11.760 |
all the world will have final judgment, the final judgment, and then we enter into eternity. 00:16:22.900 |
Now I'm not going to go through all of it, but pre-tribulational dispensation, pre-millennialism 00:16:26.940 |
is basically Christ is going to come here, we get raptured here, the church is saved 00:16:32.860 |
from this, all this, you know, the judgments that we've been talking about, the church 00:16:36.540 |
has already been delivered, and then afterwards they come back down and then enter the millennium. 00:16:47.460 |
So the only difference between these two is when does Christ come? 00:16:50.500 |
Does He come in the beginning of the tribulation or at the end of the tribulation? 00:16:55.580 |
And then post-millennialism, again, I'm not going to get too much into that. 00:17:01.180 |
Post-millennialism and amillennialism is, I'm not going to get too much into that, but 00:17:05.580 |
basically when we go back to the first couple approaches. 00:17:14.280 |
So this is the timeline that we're going off of. 00:17:32.420 |
I want to see your lips moving so I can see at least a portion of you. 00:17:48.460 |
Fulfilled throughout history, and it's not limited to first century. 00:17:58.100 |
That there is going to be a future time when this is going to be fulfilled. 00:18:03.660 |
Ideological view, or you can call it an allegorical view where everything is symbolic of something. 00:18:13.800 |
So from here, what I'm going to do is on your paper, I just left blank chapter 1 through 00:18:22.020 |
So what I want you to do is as we're going over it, as we're reviewing it, just fill 00:18:31.600 |
So later on, what I'm going to do is I'm going to say chapter 2. 00:18:35.260 |
So our goal is so that you wouldn't have to look at it, that you would say, oh, chapter 00:18:42.220 |
So chapter 1, just looking at the picture, just from memory, what do you remember about 00:19:00.820 |
That description, a student right there, that's basically what happens, right? 00:19:05.740 |
So the book begins by introducing Christ, right? 00:19:10.840 |
John is the first vision that he sees is a vision of who Christ is. 00:19:17.060 |
He has the sword of the mouth and flaming eyes, and he's standing between the seven 00:19:25.400 |
And so John gets a glimpse of the glory of Jesus, and he falls down, kind of like Ezekiel 00:20:10.780 |
So Jesus is described as standing in the midst of the seven lampstands. 00:20:25.740 |
I think I was talking to somebody else before, but like Book of Revelation is, studying Book 00:20:29.900 |
of Revelation is like studying painting, right? 00:20:33.760 |
We don't analyze like every single word of what it means. 00:20:36.540 |
It's kind of, we're shown a picture, and basically from that picture, we're supposed to understand 00:20:44.280 |
So one of the pictures that we see is we see a vision of Christ, and every character that 00:20:49.640 |
is mentioned about Christ, where does this come back out? 00:21:02.780 |
Every one of these seven churches, there's a Jesus's description that we see in chapter 00:21:08.240 |
It says, "The one who stands in the middle of the seven lampstands." 00:21:13.940 |
You know, he has something against you, or he has something to say to you. 00:21:16.920 |
So every one of these characteristics is related to something related to the churches that 00:21:21.980 |
So when he says that Jesus is standing in the midst of the seven churches, seven lampstands, 00:21:29.020 |
He has very intimate knowledge of these seven churches, that he's not far away from these 00:21:36.320 |
churches making observations through a microscope or from a distance. 00:21:42.360 |
Jesus is in the midst of them, so he knows them very well. 00:21:45.760 |
And we're going to see that as he describes the seven churches, right? 00:21:52.700 |
So chapter 1, basically introduction of Christ, introduction of him as the Alpha and Omega 00:22:03.020 |
Chapter 2 and 3 is a description and rebuke and encouragement of the seven churches. 00:22:16.320 |
So the seven churches, if you can see behind me, there's Ephesus, Myrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, 00:22:28.000 |
Now I'm going to ask you is to see how much you remember. 00:22:34.780 |
Which of the two churches that Jesus talks to that isn't rebuked? 00:22:54.100 |
So remember, Philadelphia and Smyrna are the only two churches where there isn't any specific 00:23:02.140 |
Just for your memory, the first church is what? 00:23:11.080 |
So the two churches that aren't rebuked are the ones that are attached to these churches. 00:23:16.380 |
So Ephesus in the beginning, so you have Ephesus and Smyrna in the beginning. 00:23:22.400 |
And then at the end, Laodicea and Philadelphia. 00:23:31.180 |
Which church do you think has the greatest rebuke? 00:23:49.480 |
There's nothing good that's pointed out about this church at all. 00:23:53.260 |
So we could say that the severest rebuke was for the last church. 00:24:03.960 |
So other churches, there's the sin of Nicolation, sin of Balaam, the sin of Jezebel. 00:24:09.880 |
So there are very specific sins mentioned, but the Laodicean church, which has no commendation 00:24:15.700 |
for them, and the only sin that is pointed out is they're self-sufficient. 00:24:23.260 |
Their churches, they're worshiping God, but they don't really need Him. 00:24:32.920 |
So I'm not going to go through all of them, but if you look at Ephesus, okay? 00:24:40.340 |
Look at Ephesus, Revelation chapter 2, verse 1. 00:24:43.780 |
To the angel of the church in Ephesus, the words of him who holds the seven stars in 00:24:47.900 |
the right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. 00:24:52.580 |
So the very first letter is described as one who holds the stars and he walks among the 00:24:58.300 |
So he's basically saying that there are certain things that may appear on the outside, but 00:25:06.460 |
So Church of Ephesus on the outside looks like a very strong church. 00:25:11.380 |
It has all the right doctrines and tests the apostles to see if they were true. 00:25:15.460 |
They have all the things that you need on the surface, but Jesus walks among the lampstands 00:25:24.460 |
And he says, "I have this one thing against you, and that you have forsaken your first 00:25:30.220 |
And this sin was severe enough, he says, "If you don't restore your first love, what does 00:25:35.660 |
He's going to take away your lampstand, right? 00:25:38.660 |
Meaning the church is no longer going to be a church. 00:25:40.940 |
You can gather together, you can sing the songs, right? 00:25:45.500 |
You can have all this stuff, but the Spirit of God is going to be withdrawn, right? 00:25:49.660 |
So how important is it that our first love is something that we fight for, right? 00:25:56.380 |
So he intimately has knowledge of these things. 00:25:59.300 |
So then I think another church that he points out, Church of Sardis, he said, "You have 00:26:04.500 |
the reputation of being alive, but you are actually dead," right? 00:26:08.140 |
He said, "You have an appearance, everybody looks at you and you say, 'Wow, that's a 00:26:13.860 |
living church,' but in reality, spiritually they're dead." 00:26:17.380 |
So in other words, Christ is in the midst of them and you can't fool him, right? 00:26:22.780 |
And so all of this is basically a setup of the judgment that's coming. 00:26:27.820 |
So the historical application of all of this obviously is to specific churches. 00:26:34.420 |
And then he's preparing them for the judgment that's going to come, okay? 00:26:44.980 |
Before we get to the judgments, right, what happens in chapter 4? 00:26:56.580 |
I want you guys to fill in the blanks as we're going, okay? 00:27:16.200 |
So he's preparing them for the judgment that's coming, at least the vision of the judgment 00:27:22.060 |
And before he shows them the judgment, the utter chaos that's about to be unleashed, 00:27:27.980 |
every single one of these seals, every single one of these trumpets, and then ultimately 00:27:31.220 |
the bowl judgments are going to create a stir, right? 00:27:35.900 |
We're reading this 2,000 years removed and we read it, it's very disturbing, right? 00:27:40.740 |
A third of the earth being wiped out, a fourth of the people that... 00:27:44.420 |
They're going to be tortured, they're going to be begging to die and they can't die and 00:27:51.540 |
The real severe stuff is coming at the second part. 00:27:54.160 |
So imagine if you were in first century, you're reading this or you're getting this or you 00:27:58.660 |
get a vision of this, how that would make you feel, right? 00:28:08.260 |
Maybe terrified if this is actually going to happen, right? 00:28:14.280 |
So before he reveals to them what is about to happen, what does he show? 00:28:26.280 |
He shows them the throne of God where God is in perfect control. 00:28:29.960 |
Where when he sees behind the scene where all of this is going to unravel because of 00:28:34.840 |
God, God is sitting on his throne and they are worshiping him. 00:28:39.100 |
And so that's something that I want you guys to notice that throughout these judgments, 00:28:42.880 |
in between, whenever there's a break, God shows John a vision of the throne, right? 00:28:49.600 |
And when he sees the vision of the throne, what is happening? 00:28:53.520 |
Same thing, same thing that he sees in chapter four, you're going to see later on in chapter 00:28:58.460 |
like nine and all you will see it in chapter 11 where God is sitting on his throne and 00:29:10.400 |
You have the red horse, the white horse, the pale horse, the black horse. 00:29:14.280 |
They're all coming out bringing judgment upon mankind, right? 00:29:19.480 |
All this is unraveling and John sees a glimpse of heaven and he's sitting on his throne and 00:29:25.640 |
the elders and the creatures and the angels are all bowing down in worship, right? 00:29:31.420 |
So no matter how chaotic this world gets, God is still sovereign. 00:29:38.880 |
Before he begins to show the judgments coming one by one, right? 00:29:51.200 |
Chapter five, it begins by in the scene of heaven where the elders and they're all crying, 00:30:07.120 |
There's no one worthy to open the seal, right? 00:30:09.600 |
And then they say, well, the Lion of Judah is going to come. 00:30:12.800 |
And then when they turn around, what do they see? 00:30:17.820 |
So obviously that is a picture of Christ and what he came to do, right? 00:30:22.800 |
The Lion of Judah who humbled himself, took on human form, right? 00:30:28.440 |
And he became humble and you see Christ and the picture of Christ. 00:30:35.560 |
And then so if you see at the end of chapter four, heaven breaks out in worship for God. 00:30:42.600 |
And then at the end of chapter five, we see a vision of Christ as a lamb. 00:31:06.880 |
Yeah, I want you guys to, this is review for you. 00:31:14.340 |
So chapter four, so before he goes into the judgments where the seals are beginning to 00:31:18.960 |
open and then the judgment comes, he sees, he shows John a vision of heaven where they're 00:31:27.680 |
And then they turn it around and say, well, how is this going to be fulfilled? 00:31:30.800 |
And then he sees the Lion of Judah who come in the form of the lamb, right? 00:31:34.880 |
And obviously clearly he's going to be sacrificed for the sins of mankind. 00:31:39.600 |
And then chapter five ends with praise and adoration of the lamb. 00:31:44.020 |
So before the judgment begins, there's scenes of worship, right? 00:31:48.120 |
Two separate scenes of worship, the father and the son being worshiped. 00:31:56.280 |
So chapter one, introduction of Christ and the church. 00:32:00.840 |
Chapter two and three is the seven churches, right? 00:32:13.280 |
And the two churches that doesn't get rebuked, Myrna, Philadelphia, and then, so we're only 00:32:34.880 |
Okay, so if you remember the four easily, maybe the three will come better for you. 00:32:46.760 |
Door gets open to heaven, and what does he see? 00:32:50.680 |
The throne of God, the 24 elders and the creatures bowing down and worshiping him. 00:32:56.240 |
And then we get to chapter five, father gets worshipped, lamb of God, right? 00:33:02.760 |
The lamb of God comes, and then chapter five ends with the worship of the lamb. 00:33:07.760 |
So you got that basic outline of five chapters of Revelation up to this point. 00:33:20.120 |
I tried to find one that didn't look like a, you know, pizza, but then this one I showed 00:33:29.000 |
You have the six seals and then ones on the bottom, the seventh seal. 00:33:35.160 |
So in the sixth seal, he opens up, the lamb opens up the first seal. 00:33:40.760 |
Remember the, okay, let me mention this before I move on to the seals. 00:33:48.640 |
Remember I told you, you had the seven seals, seven trumpets, and then you have the seven 00:33:58.000 |
And there is a discussion as to whether these seven are supposed to be like linear, meaning 00:34:03.280 |
that you have seven and then when seven closes, then another seven opens up. 00:34:07.320 |
And then when that closes, another seven opens up. 00:34:11.960 |
But up to this point, remember what happens when you break the seventh seal? 00:34:18.160 |
When the seventh seal is broken, what happens? 00:34:25.240 |
And then when you get to the sixth trumpet, right? 00:34:30.140 |
And then you get to the seventh, there's a, before the sixth and seventh, there's a long 00:34:35.160 |
When seventh seal gets, seventh trumpet blows, and then the bowl opens up, right? 00:34:40.260 |
So this is the depiction, the illustration you see behind me is what I think is happening, 00:34:48.500 |
So the whole thing is happening in seven years, but at the end of seventh, on the seventh, 00:34:53.560 |
the very last seal judgment, when that gets broken, it opens up the seventh trumpet. 00:34:59.400 |
And then at the seventh of the seventh trumpet, it opens up the seal, but it's all taking 00:35:04.000 |
And what's happening is the very last seventh year, right before the Armageddon, it's going 00:35:17.560 |
And then remember, we get to the half year mark, and that's when it gets really intense, 00:35:23.560 |
The real intense stuff is going to happen with the bowl judgments. 00:35:26.320 |
And when the bowl judgments begin to open up, it's going to happen rapid fire. 00:35:31.260 |
It's not once a year or once every few months, it's just coming boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, 00:35:38.400 |
You know, you begin slow with one or two cracking every once in a while, then you get to the 00:35:43.960 |
And then the finale at the very end is boom, boom, boom, boom. 00:35:47.380 |
So I think that that's what's happening, that these seven judgments are happening in seven 00:35:54.120 |
The intense stuff is happening in the three and a half second part. 00:35:57.160 |
And then the real intense stuff is at the very tail end. 00:41:13.200 |
This is part of the reason why I believe that I believe the post trip theory because it 00:41:19.400 |
doesn't seem like the church is going to be completely preserved from this. 00:41:24.360 |
The church is going to go through this and the intense suffering is in that's what the 00:41:28.400 |
book of Revelation is written for is for the church to prepare. 00:41:42.560 |
So all the seals, so let's go, let's review the seals. 00:41:47.240 |
First one is the white horse and he brings conflict, right? 00:42:28.520 |
This takes us all the way up to chapter six, right? 00:42:32.120 |
Chapter one, introduction of Christ and the church. 00:42:47.160 |
Ephesus is the church that lost their first love, right? 00:42:58.320 |
Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea. 00:43:11.720 |
Two churches that aren't rebuked is Philadelphia and Smyrna. 00:43:19.940 |
One church that there is no commendation, Laodicea. 00:43:29.320 |
Remember, before the seal judgments happened, chapter four and five, right? 00:43:36.120 |
They open the door, show him the throne of God. 00:43:39.440 |
And when he sees the throne of God, what do they see? 00:43:43.680 |
The 24 elders and the creatures and the angels are all bowing down and worshiping him, right? 00:43:49.120 |
And then after that scene, we get to chapter five. 00:43:57.240 |
The son, the father, and then the son in chapter five, right? 00:44:05.560 |
And then chapter five ends with worship, right? 00:44:09.840 |
Worship of the father, chapter four, worship of the son in chapter five. 00:44:36.760 |
Your murmuring is getting smaller and smaller. 00:44:55.040 |
So you got six chapters of outline in your head, hopefully, if you were a part of the 00:45:00.080 |
And then those who are keeping silent, maybe you don't know yet, okay? 00:45:21.400 |
These are the, again, we don't know, is that an actual number or is it symbolic? 00:45:30.320 |
We don't know that for sure, but it seems like there's 144,000 and it mentions all the 00:45:35.240 |
tribes of Israel that it may be referring to the nation of Israel being restored, right? 00:45:47.280 |
After the 144,000 are sealed, what do they see after that? 00:45:52.280 |
All the other nations standing behind them, right? 00:46:01.840 |
And then they also break out in worship, right? 00:46:11.120 |
So you got to solve to chapter six, you have the six seals and then chapter seven between 00:46:18.480 |
six and seven seal, there is 144,000 that is sealed. 00:46:22.560 |
And then the great nations, the multitude, it seems like the Gentile world is also behind 00:46:39.760 |
Let's see how much of the trumpets you remember. 00:46:44.600 |
So the first angel blows a trumpet, what comes? 00:46:56.160 |
And what I want you to pay attention in the trumpets is if you look at the seal, right, 00:47:03.280 |
all this disaster is coming upon the earth, right? 00:47:08.240 |
And the trumpets coming, half of the trumpet is still natural disaster. 00:47:14.560 |
And then when the woes come, remember the three woes at the end, right? 00:47:18.720 |
The fifth, sixth and seventh trumpet, the woes are targeted toward people, right? 00:47:25.780 |
So up to this point, every disaster that came, God is still waiting for people to repent. 00:47:32.680 |
He's giving them a last chance opportunity in the midst of all of this persecution, not 00:47:37.400 |
persecution, but disasters that they would come. 00:47:39.960 |
But what was the response of the people when all of this is happening? 00:47:45.920 |
They said they refused, even after all of this, they still refuse to repent. 00:47:50.240 |
So up to this point, God is still being patient with them. 00:47:53.940 |
So the first seal or first trumpet comes, hail and fire comes, right? 00:47:59.880 |
And a third of the earth is burned up, right? 00:48:03.040 |
So the first trumpet comes and the earth is burned up. 00:48:10.800 |
Mountain, it kind of, at least it sounds like a volcano, right? 00:48:17.800 |
The mountain is burning up and then it's going into what? 00:48:29.680 |
The second is the earth being burned up, right? 00:48:36.740 |
And then a third trumpet blows, what happens? 00:48:51.040 |
The earth is burned up, a third of the earth. 00:48:52.960 |
Second is mountains are on fire and a third of the ocean, right? 00:48:59.560 |
And then the third trumpet blows, a star falls from the sky, a third of the rivers and the 00:49:07.520 |
And this is where the word wormwood comes in, remember we talked about that, right? 00:49:11.920 |
And third of the waters become wormwood and it seems like it's being poisoned. 00:49:17.320 |
So maybe it's a nuclear fallout, we don't know what it is, but a third, a star falls 00:49:21.200 |
from the sky and it reaches and it ruins all the still waters. 00:49:30.640 |
He said that the third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, the third of the stars 00:49:36.920 |
so that the third of their light might be darkened and a third of the day might be kept 00:49:44.560 |
So it seems like there's some sort of a cloud, a dark cloud that's hovering, right? 00:49:50.240 |
Maybe it's a nuclear fallout, maybe it's as a result of the fallout this is happening, 00:49:57.240 |
It's not obvious, but if you look at it, it's third, third of the earth, third of 00:50:05.560 |
And a third of the sun, the moon and all of this gets darkened, right? 00:50:10.680 |
So the trumpet is basically wiping out a third of the world. 00:50:15.640 |
And then in verse 13 it says, "Then I looked and I heard an eagle crying a loud voice and 00:50:19.440 |
it flew directly overhead, 'Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth.'" 00:50:23.520 |
So basically up to this point, right, it was disastrous, but the real intense stuff is 00:50:47.000 |
Right, a star falls from heaven, right, to earth and that star doesn't seem like the 00:51:00.880 |
It seems like it's some kind of a being, right? 00:51:05.720 |
It doesn't, because the way it's described is the star is given a key to the bottomless 00:51:16.880 |
Like an educated guess, we talked about this, that possibly this is Satan, right, talked 00:51:21.360 |
about in Isaiah, that Satan falls and he's not given keys to the bottomless pit, meaning 00:51:30.160 |
He's being allowed, right, to take the powers and again, God is allowing him to bring judgment 00:51:37.600 |
So from now on, we see demonic presence, right? 00:51:43.680 |
So up to this point, God's bringing judgment, but his angels are bringing judgment and he's 00:51:48.000 |
restraining them to a certain degree because he wants them to repent, even in the midst 00:51:54.600 |
But once the demons are released, what happens? 00:51:59.640 |
Once they come out, they're to destroy and destroy only. 00:52:05.260 |
And that's the "whoa, whoa, whoa" he's talking about. 00:52:10.840 |
So the fifth trumpet blows, angel falls, and he's given keys to the bottomless pit. 00:52:20.240 |
And again, and then he begins to bring disaster. 00:52:23.000 |
And so when he's given the key, what happens? 00:52:33.200 |
The army of locusts come out, then they come to completely devour. 00:52:39.000 |
They come devour everything except for those who have the seal of God on their forehead, 00:52:48.280 |
And then it said, this first "whoa" is so intense, in verse six it says, "And in those 00:52:52.760 |
days people will seek death and will not find it. 00:52:55.080 |
They will long to die, but death will flee them." 00:53:01.080 |
So just to kind of recap, the first trumpet, hail and storm, third of the earth is burned. 00:53:11.240 |
Second trumpet, mountain is burning, third of the ocean, right? 00:53:21.040 |
Third trumpet, star falls, third of the rivers, right? 00:53:27.680 |
Fourth trumpet, right, third of the moon, third of the stars, the clouds are going to 00:53:34.480 |
cover all of it, it's going to be dark, right? 00:53:38.380 |
The fifth trumpet blows, star falls from the sky, right? 00:53:43.960 |
A fallen angel, possibly Satan, he releases demonic powers, and these demonic powers are 00:53:50.720 |
represented in these locusts that are coming and devouring, and this devouring is so intense, 00:53:56.000 |
right, that people want to die but they can't. 00:54:01.400 |
So the sixth trumpet in verse 11, right, what happens? 00:54:09.840 |
The four horns of the golden altar before God saying to the sixth angel who had the 00:54:14.480 |
trumpet released the four angels who are bound at the great river of Euphrates. 00:54:18.640 |
So these four angels who are holding back, they're released, and then plague comes in 00:54:34.000 |
So this sixth trumpet that blows, the angels releases whatever restraining power there 00:54:39.840 |
was and then plague comes upon them and a third of mankind is wiped out, right? 00:54:45.440 |
So this judgment is increasing, right, exponentially with each of these judgments. 00:54:52.480 |
And then in verse 20, it says, "The rest of mankind who are not killed by these plagues 00:54:56.760 |
did not repent of the works of their hands, nor give up worshipping demons and idols of 00:55:01.120 |
gold and silver, bronze and stone, and wood and cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they 00:55:07.320 |
repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality of their thefts." 00:55:11.360 |
Even after all of this, God is waiting for them to repent and they're not repenting, 00:55:19.360 |
And then for chapter 10, sorry, that was chapter 9, the first of the woes. 00:55:31.440 |
An angel comes and he has one foot on land and one foot in the ocean, describing the 00:55:37.960 |
power of this angel, that it is a big, powerful angel that comes. 00:55:58.040 |
And then what is John told to do with the scroll? 00:56:06.400 |
And then he says, how is him eating going to, how is it described? 00:56:10.560 |
It is, right, as sweet as honey in the mouth, but bitter in the stomach. 00:56:17.160 |
So it doesn't say, but why do we say we think that is? 00:56:22.760 |
Possibly, remember he says that he's, God promised he's no longer going to delay. 00:56:30.080 |
And what does it mean that God is going to come, he's no longer going to delay in coming. 00:56:34.880 |
So when he no longer delays, his second coming is bittersweet. 00:56:39.320 |
It's sweet for those Christians who've been eagerly waiting and living soberly, and it's 00:56:45.320 |
Because with the coming of Christ, there's going to come judgment, right? 00:56:55.040 |
When God's presence comes, typically we think when God's, you know, revival comes, that 00:56:59.720 |
everybody's just going to feel happy and close to God. 00:57:02.820 |
Revival doesn't come in the midst of unrepentant sinners. 00:57:08.340 |
Revival comes because he comes to cause the church to repent and be purified. 00:57:17.140 |
It's bitter because he comes to cause people to repent. 00:57:20.580 |
So the word of God is always sweet and bitter, like the gospel comes and he brings condemnation, 00:57:27.340 |
But along with condemnation, he promises restoration, right? 00:57:31.500 |
So we look at the book of Revelation, all this judgment is coming, but the end result 00:57:35.140 |
of all of this is God's fulfillment of his promise of salvation, right? 00:57:39.460 |
I mean, we would like to skip through all of this and just get to heaven, right? 00:57:44.520 |
But the process that God's going to take us through to get us to heaven is all of this, 00:57:50.660 |
So again, it doesn't spell that out, but the word of God is always sweet and bitter, right? 00:58:00.660 |
He's going to come and convict us of our sins, right? 00:58:07.100 |
Then what happens in chapter 11, the last chapter? 00:58:09.780 |
It begins with the measuring of the temple, right? 00:58:15.360 |
He measures the temple, but God tells him, "Measure everything," but what he tells 00:58:31.660 |
Probably for renovation, for restoration, right? 00:58:34.240 |
And that's exactly what God is promising, that his presence is going to be restored 00:58:38.540 |
among his people, but he says, "Do not measure the outside," meaning he's talking about fake 00:58:50.660 |
He's going to allow deception to come in, and he's going to prune, and he's going to 00:58:54.620 |
bring judgment upon people who are just kind of hanging on who aren't real, right? 00:59:00.580 |
So it's recognition of God's restoration, but also with restoration is going to come 00:59:12.940 |
And these are powerful witnesses, and what were they wearing? 00:59:24.700 |
So the imagery that we see of these two witnesses is kind of like John the Baptist, and his 00:59:28.500 |
message was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." 00:59:31.380 |
So it seems like these two witnesses are coming, and they're preaching message of repentance. 00:59:37.860 |
He's basically kind of like functioning as John the Baptist, preparing for the coming 00:59:58.020 |
They hated them so much that when the beast from the abyss comes up, and he overpowers 01:00:06.540 |
They leave him out in the great city of Jerusalem, and they don't bury him. 01:00:10.940 |
They basically mock him, and they celebrate his death, right? 01:00:14.540 |
Then after three and a half days, they rise back up, and they go to heaven. 01:00:23.580 |
You know, some say Elijah and Moses, or maybe Enoch and Elijah. 01:00:29.260 |
We don't know for sure, but it seems like the message is pretty clear. 01:00:33.560 |
God is sending his messengers and proclaiming judgment and repentance, and to the very end, 01:00:41.620 |
the world is holding on, and they're not repenting. 01:00:50.580 |
If you followed me up to this point, and you remember this, this is huge, okay, because 01:00:55.020 |
so few Christians know what is contained in this book. 01:00:59.420 |
The fact that even if you can say chapter seven, and you know what's in chapter seven, 01:01:06.740 |
So hopefully, by the end of tonight, you'll be able to do that, okay? 01:01:10.580 |
You'll know the flow of the book, at least halfway through it. 01:01:13.700 |
All right, so you can kind of look through your notes for now, and then I'm going to 01:01:35.240 |
Chapter two and three, seven churches, right? 01:01:40.840 |
So the seven churches, let's see if we can get it in order. 01:01:45.140 |
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and the Odyssea. 01:01:58.300 |
Chapter four, he's taken up in spirit, and he's shown the throne of God, and the angels, 01:02:10.300 |
the creatures, the elders are all worshiping, right? 01:02:14.140 |
And they turn around in chapter five, they're all crying because no one was worthy to open 01:02:18.460 |
up the seal, and he says, "The Lion of Judah is worthy. 01:02:27.300 |
And then chapter five ends with worship of the Lamb. 01:02:30.900 |
So worship of God, chapter four, worship of the Lamb in chapter five. 01:02:45.140 |
So when the seal judgment opens up, what's the first seal? 01:03:10.140 |
And then the fifth seal, the martyrs crying out under the altar. 01:03:22.780 |
And then chapter seven, remember it's connected to the seal. 01:03:35.220 |
And after that, right, the Gentile nations behind them, right? 01:03:40.260 |
And they break out again, it's a scene of worship. 01:03:43.900 |
Chapter eight, the trumpet judgments open up. 01:04:05.460 |
Okay, falling star, a third of the rivers, right? 01:04:14.620 |
Sun, moon, stars, like they smoked, blocks out a third, okay? 01:04:22.220 |
And then the three, next judgment is called three woes. 01:04:30.100 |
And the first woe, okay, a fallen star, seems like it's not the physical star but some sort 01:04:47.040 |
He gets the key to the, right, he gets a key to the bottomless pit and he opens up and 01:04:54.020 |
he brings out an army of soldiers, locusts, right? 01:05:01.620 |
Right, they're torturing and tormenting, right? 01:05:06.980 |
And then they want to die but they can't, that's how severe it is, right? 01:05:19.540 |
Okay, sixth seal comes, okay, sorry, that's chapter, we're already in chapter nine, the 01:05:33.860 |
So the sixth seal comes, third of mankind, right? 01:05:40.780 |
There's pestilence, disease come, a third of mankind is wiped out, right? 01:05:54.740 |
Okay, he has a tiny scroll and John, okay, he's supposed to eat it, right? 01:06:01.900 |
It's sweet in the mouth, bitter in the stomach. 01:06:11.500 |
So measure the outer court and then the two witnesses, right? 01:06:18.580 |
Two witnesses and then they're very powerful, anybody who comes against them, they're able 01:06:22.500 |
to kill, they have the authority to kill with fire, right, from their mouth and then they're 01:06:26.940 |
hated and then the beast, that's the first time we see the beast coming out. 01:06:38.300 |
He's not Satan, so possibly he's the Antichrist because he's feeding off of Satan, later on 01:06:45.660 |
And then they come back to life and then they're up in heaven.