back to indexWed Bible Study - Revelation Lesson 27
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So, hopefully, the study of the book of Revelations has made an impact, at least on the way that 00:00:08.920 |
you think about your life, and again, so that we would not be caught off guard. 00:00:13.240 |
Revelation 6.15, "Behold, I am coming like a thief. 00:00:15.800 |
Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about 00:00:21.040 |
So, the second part of it where it says to stay awake, right? 00:00:24.860 |
What does it mean to be awake as a Christian, to be sober in the way that we live? 00:00:30.360 |
Again, the challenge that we have is that there's so much distraction, especially where 00:00:40.700 |
Not to get the standard of our Christian living by the people that we're next to, but what 00:00:48.800 |
So, again, generally, remember we talked about the three separate judgments? 00:00:56.500 |
You could take that as the seven, and then another seven, and another seven, 21 years 00:01:01.540 |
consecutively, or seven consecutively, or it could be one, two, three, four, five, six, 00:01:08.220 |
seven, and then it's basically all three judgments are talking about the same period, except 00:01:14.060 |
that it's just talking about different aspects. 00:01:18.040 |
But the way we approached it, the way I approached it, is that on the seventh one, it opens up 00:01:22.300 |
the trumpet judgments, and on the seventh trumpet judgment, it opens up the bowl judgment. 00:01:26.460 |
So, that's the approach that we took in our interpretation. 00:01:28.940 |
So, I'm not going to go through all of it for the sake of time, but remember there are 00:01:37.140 |
Depending on your perspective on how you interpret this, everything that we studied, the application 00:01:43.140 |
So, one of the applications or the interpretation was that you would interpret it in a way that 00:01:48.900 |
everything was fulfilled in the first century, right? 00:01:58.640 |
The historical view is the application of historical, certain historical events all 00:02:03.180 |
throughout from the very first century until now. 00:02:07.580 |
So, what we are calling, it's called the futurist view, meaning that most of this stuff is meant 00:02:12.900 |
to be applied at the end times when Christ comes, during the tribulation, during the 00:02:19.700 |
So, that was our approach, if you guys remember, okay? 00:02:23.340 |
So, I'm going to go over 22 chapters, so it's going to be pretty quick, alright? 00:02:28.740 |
And then I'm going to give you guys the rest of the time to start. 00:02:30.900 |
So, if you remember, chapter one begins with the introduction, and verse three, it says, 00:02:35.380 |
"Blessed are those who read," again, this is not the exact quote, "or hears and keeps 00:02:41.860 |
And so, the emphasis was not just to read it, not just to hear it, but to obey. 00:02:46.460 |
And we talked about that last week, how he begins with this verse, and Revelation 22 00:02:51.820 |
"Blessed are those who obey," or keep this word. 00:02:54.980 |
So, when we think about the various prophecies that we studied, it wasn't just so that we 00:02:59.620 |
can look at it and say, "Oh, now I understand the end times," but how does that cause us 00:03:07.300 |
And then, the very first vision that he has is the vision of Christ. 00:03:11.420 |
And Christ is the one who calls John to give him the vision so that he can take it to the 00:03:16.420 |
So, chapter one begins with a detailed description of who Christ is. 00:03:22.900 |
Chapter two and three gives us the seven different churches, right? 00:03:26.900 |
Anybody remember which was the Lukewarm Church? 00:03:32.940 |
Which was the church that, two churches that weren't rebuked? 00:03:42.100 |
Which is the church that lost their first love? 00:03:47.380 |
All right, let's see if you remember this one. 00:03:49.740 |
Which is the church that has a reputation of being alive, but was dead? 00:03:58.660 |
If there is any unifying thing about all of them, it was that God promises that those 00:04:03.780 |
who overcome, that He was going to give eternal life, right? 00:04:10.980 |
So, the letters are written and everything in the content of the book of Revelation was 00:04:16.540 |
meant to be distributed in the seven churches. 00:04:21.100 |
So, this was not meant for any one particular church. 00:04:24.700 |
So, He wasn't dealing with any one particular problem, one particular church. 00:04:29.100 |
Because the whole letter was supposed to be read. 00:04:32.900 |
Now, of course, all of the New Testament was written for everybody to read. 00:04:36.840 |
But it was addressing a particular problem in Galatia or Philippi or to a particular 00:04:43.140 |
But this book, it makes it very clear that it was meant for everybody. 00:04:47.780 |
That's why the seven different churches are written. 00:04:50.620 |
So, before we get into the seal judgments, remember there's, remember we said scattered 00:05:13.220 |
So, before he begins to reveal the horrific judgment that's coming upon mankind, He always 00:05:23.380 |
About the throne of God, the different creatures out there rotating and declaring His holiness. 00:05:29.380 |
And then, so chapter four is a vision of the throne of God, the 24 elders and how He is 00:05:35.340 |
And then chapter five, if you remember, the lion and the lamb, it begins with the heavens 00:05:42.100 |
crying because there's no one who is worthy to open up the seal. 00:05:46.860 |
And then they come and they say, "Don't worry, the lion of Judah has come. 00:05:56.860 |
The lion of Judah expressed as the lamb of God and He is worthy. 00:06:01.580 |
So, basically that's the gospel message that Christ, the Son of God comes, takes on human 00:06:08.500 |
So, we see that gospel picture in chapter five. 00:06:16.220 |
So, chapter four is the worship of God and chapter five is the worship of the lamb. 00:06:26.980 |
And I'm not going to ask you to remember all of the different seals, but because we 00:06:31.460 |
went through this the first time, remember what the first seal? 00:06:43.860 |
The red horse, black horse, and then a pale horse. 00:06:49.980 |
And each of them representing different things. 00:06:57.460 |
And then the fifth seal, what does it open up? 00:07:00.740 |
You get a vision of those who've been martyred. 00:07:06.980 |
And then, and then, yes, and then the sixth, and then the seventh seal opens up in chapter 00:07:23.980 |
After the judgment is done, the seventh seal opens the door and the first vision before 00:07:28.740 |
they go into the trumpet judgments is again, worship. 00:07:33.620 |
144,000, 12,000 in each tribe making up 144,000 Jews, the Israelites, and then behind them, 00:07:46.860 |
So he sees, after the seal judgment, he sees again, he sees the throne of God, he sees 00:07:51.620 |
God being worshipped, then after that vision starts the trumpet judgment. 00:07:58.700 |
So the seventh seal judgment opens up the seventh trumpet judgments. 00:08:02.620 |
In chapter eight, it goes, right, and what was, what was the key quality of the trumpet 00:08:17.900 |
One is it's geared toward the earth, not directly toward man. 00:08:25.740 |
So there's earthquakes, there's all these other things that judgment is coming upon 00:08:31.700 |
the earth, but it's not directly toward them. 00:08:35.700 |
And the second, remember the number, a third? 00:08:44.380 |
So remember, when we were going through the seven trumpet judgments, what was the intent 00:09:09.400 |
You have the first one, two, three, four, four trumpet judgments, and then the fifth 00:09:16.180 |
trumpet judgment opens up where the one who has the key to the abyss, he comes out and 00:09:25.260 |
And remember when we talked about how the locust judgment in the book of Joel, that 00:09:29.580 |
the locust judgment oftentimes refers to utter and complete destruction? 00:09:34.060 |
So again, if you look at each of the judgments, there's an escalation of each one of the judgments. 00:09:40.380 |
Now we've gotten to the point where he says that three woes are coming, and then the first 00:09:44.300 |
woe is a demonic army that comes in the form of, again, whether there's going to be a literal 00:09:50.260 |
locust or not, but the devastation is going to become more and more devastating. 00:09:58.020 |
Remember, what does it signify when it says he had one foot in the sea, one foot on land? 00:10:08.740 |
He had power, and then he has a scroll, meaning that God had a specific message for him to 00:10:17.260 |
And then chapter 11, again, this starts out with the measuring of the temple, and then 00:10:23.900 |
So what did the measuring of the temple signify? 00:10:37.860 |
So this is prophetic of how God's temple or his home is going to be restored. 00:10:45.860 |
And then the two witnesses come, and they're very powerful, and at the end of it, what 00:10:55.020 |
And then at the very end, they're left out in the open, and everybody is mocking, and 00:11:00.660 |
everybody's horrified, and then after three days, they get back up and they ascend, right? 00:11:10.720 |
And then the chapter 12, again, which was the session that we started, remember the 00:11:30.900 |
Yeah, we'll get to the second vision with the other woman, but this is not the same. 00:11:37.340 |
In Israel, and the red dragon goes after the seed of the woman because of the... 00:11:42.500 |
Remember the prophecy in the book of Genesis? 00:11:44.060 |
The seed of the woman is going to come and crush the head of the serpent? 00:11:46.900 |
And so this is that vision of how they're in conflict, and then God miraculously protects 00:11:53.220 |
And so that's that vision in Revelation chapter 12. 00:11:55.800 |
So remember, chapter 12, the final bowl judgment doesn't come until chapter 16. 00:12:02.240 |
So chapter 12, 13, 14, and 15, they're all kind of a prelude to the severest judgment 00:12:10.900 |
So all of this is just kind of giving us a picture of what's happening in human history, 00:12:16.480 |
how Satan is working, how he's battling to defy what God is doing, and he's trying to 00:12:24.100 |
And so all of that is pictured in chapter 12 and chapter 13. 00:12:28.960 |
So remember chapter 13, it talks about after the red dragon, right? 00:12:35.240 |
We have the first beast and the second beast. 00:12:47.320 |
What does Antichrist do to get popularity from people? 00:12:58.880 |
Right, he said it seemed like he had a mortal wound, but he doesn't die from it. 00:13:06.360 |
And he said everybody marvels because of that, and as a result of it, they go after him. 00:13:10.760 |
And then when they go after him, what does he do? 00:13:25.460 |
And then who did we say that these three mimic? 00:13:32.600 |
So if you remember, we looked at each of the works that they were doing and how each one 00:13:37.200 |
of them, and then the third one is mimicking the Holy Spirit, how it gives life and it 00:13:42.500 |
And so you look at the work of Satan, how it's trying to match the work of the Trinity, 00:13:48.880 |
how the Antichrist is doing the work like to deceive. 00:13:53.100 |
And when he deceives and gets the glory, he points it back to the Father. 00:13:56.500 |
And then the whole work of the false prophet is to deceive people and then lead them to 00:14:04.900 |
And then Antichrist ultimately gives glory to the dragon, right? 00:14:09.820 |
In chapter 14, the beast, again, begins to have relation. 00:14:18.500 |
Again, the reason why I put the beauty and the beast is because it refers to Babylon. 00:14:28.420 |
Remember, there's one particular sin that kept on coming up over and over. 00:14:44.580 |
They kept on repeating over and over again how the Babylonian kingdom, the primary thing 00:14:51.140 |
that gets mentioned over and over again, it doesn't necessarily just mean sexual sin, 00:14:56.460 |
but sexual immorality is referring to any kind of lust rebellion. 00:15:00.980 |
So the Bible talks about how the nation of Israel, when it goes after idols, he calls 00:15:10.900 |
So sexual immorality isn't just talking about sex. 00:15:13.220 |
It's obviously sexual immorality is part of it, but it's anything that is in rebellion 00:15:21.220 |
And so Babylon, remember, the Assyrians, they conquered in fear. 00:15:27.260 |
They would come, totally dominate, and they would put fear in people and make them tremble. 00:15:32.500 |
So they would be, they were known for their cruelty. 00:15:35.460 |
But the Babylonians, once they conquered, they treated them so well that they didn't 00:15:45.180 |
And remember how we were studying the book of Israel? 00:15:51.500 |
And if you look at Israel's history, the problem with Israel's history was once they went into 00:15:55.580 |
captivity and God allows them to come back, majority of them don't come back. 00:16:02.220 |
So in the book of Revelation, when the attraction of the Babylonians, it wasn't by force, it 00:16:13.740 |
So the beast and the beauty is working together. 00:16:20.340 |
So chapter 15, we see, again, they see a vision of heaven. 00:16:24.100 |
And in the vision of heaven, it says that the bulls, the seven angels with seven bulls 00:16:32.260 |
This signifies the intensity of this judgment that this is directly coming from God's throne, 00:16:40.740 |
Not that the other ones was not, but again, this vision reveals that God is directly targeting. 00:16:48.980 |
The seven bull judgments is the third woe that was mentioned. 00:16:55.780 |
And in each of these bulls, it was unlike the other judgments so far. 00:17:08.460 |
What was different between the bull judgments and then the other two judgments? 00:17:14.180 |
Obviously, it was more intense, but what made it more intense? 00:17:22.180 |
All the other judgments up to this point, it was God's judging the earth and mankind 00:17:35.580 |
But even in the midst of that, God is hoping and he's giving opportunity for people to 00:17:41.980 |
When this, when the bull judgment comes, the angel makes it clear, right, that he will 00:17:48.300 |
Remember, he keeps saying he will not delay, he will not delay. 00:17:50.500 |
Meaning that the final judgment is coming and he's referring to the bull judgments. 00:17:54.820 |
And the bull judgment is severe because it is final. 00:18:00.980 |
There is no waiting for people to repent and come back. 00:18:04.140 |
And this judgment is directly targeted to people. 00:18:09.020 |
And remember, up to now, we're talking about a third, where here it's utter devastation. 00:18:16.060 |
The seven judgments that we see is, remember, the people who have the mark of the 666, they 00:18:25.940 |
And then remember that this is the sea, the open waters, and this is the springs. 00:18:32.400 |
And this is the sun's going to scorch the people. 00:18:34.840 |
And then the demonic kingdom is going to be directly targeted. 00:18:39.340 |
And then there's going to be a famine where the Euphrates River dries up. 00:18:52.480 |
But that when that thing dries up, that there's going to be no boundary between Israel and 00:18:57.500 |
And possibly that that is in preparation for the Armageddon, the final battle that's going 00:19:02.540 |
And then the final part of it is going to be an intense earthquake that's going to divide 00:19:09.300 |
And then whatever was not affected by the earthquake, there's going to be hail to come 00:19:17.300 |
So, again, it's going to be intense, it's going to be thorough, and it's going to be 00:19:21.500 |
And which makes it different than the other judgments that we saw. 00:19:31.180 |
So this is not the same woman as I think we saw in Chapter 12. 00:19:39.020 |
Again, I mentioned to you there are some people who think that maybe that's the Catholic Church. 00:19:45.540 |
But again, there is a union between the dragon, the Antichrist, and the secular kingdom. 00:19:52.400 |
But at the end of Chapter 17, they turn against her. 00:19:56.620 |
Because they see judgment coming, and then they actually turn against her. 00:20:05.940 |
So I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but just utter destruction. 00:20:24.980 |
So basically the vision is, each of these visions, each step, it gets worse, and it 00:20:31.060 |
gets more devastating, it gets more thorough, and then right before his second coming, before 00:20:35.900 |
the millennial kingdom, it is utter destruction. 00:20:42.380 |
Whether that's going to be World War III, whether it's going to be natural disaster, 00:20:48.040 |
So all the people who are chasing after that, right, and who was marked by the number of 00:20:55.300 |
the beasts will also be judged along with it. 00:21:03.500 |
The judgment is going to take place, and after that, the coming of Christ, the marriage lamb 00:21:11.140 |
And we talked about how this will inaugurate the coming of the millennial kingdom, where 00:21:16.620 |
Christ is going to come, resurrection is going to take place, and then people are going to 00:21:19.820 |
enter into this thousand-year reign of Christ. 00:21:22.520 |
And during that period, right, Satan is bound for a thousand years. 00:21:27.300 |
So Satanic work of deception is going to be gone for a thousand years, and at the end 00:21:31.420 |
of the thousand years, he will be released, and he will deceive for a period, but very 00:21:38.900 |
And he's going to try to come and challenge God, and God's going to squash him immediately, 00:21:47.700 |
Okay, so we enter the millennium, and then at the end of the millennium, there's a white 00:21:52.780 |
throne judgment, where the final judgment takes place, and after the final judgment, 00:22:01.900 |
And, again, this should be fresh in your mind, because it wasn't too long. 00:22:05.420 |
So chapter 21 and 22, part of chapter 22 is a description of the new heaven and new earth 00:22:12.380 |
And we said that it was a physical kingdom, that the kingdom is going to be, the millennial 00:22:19.540 |
kingdom is going to be restored back to what God intended, right? 00:22:24.140 |
And we're going to have resurrected bodies, we're going to have physical bodies, but it's 00:22:31.300 |
So what we see in Christ after the resurrection is the same body we're going to have, and 00:22:35.620 |
so most likely the heaven is going to reflect that. 00:22:42.140 |
And then the second coming of Jesus, again, this is not the description of the chapter, 00:22:48.700 |
but the book ends with the description of Christ's coming. 00:22:52.060 |
And he says, "He who adds to this or subtracts from that, God will add plagues to him." 00:22:58.740 |
In other words, it ends with anticipation of his second coming, right? 00:23:03.940 |
So it begins, and then it calls us to obedience. 00:23:06.940 |
It calls us to obedience in the beginning, it calls us to obedience in the end. 00:23:10.140 |
His intent was that through this prophecy, that it would cause the church to be awake, 00:23:15.940 |
to live soberly, that we would not chase after the world that's going to be under judgment. 00:23:21.100 |
So the picture that we saw in chapter 18 is basically where all that we know, all that 00:23:30.780 |
Now when we read Book of Revelation, it's like, "Well, it sounds like a fairy tale," 00:23:34.100 |
but when you actually see the application, like look at the world, do most people believe 00:23:40.180 |
that this world is deteriorating and it's going to end, whether it's going to be a, 00:23:44.420 |
you know, like nuclear bomb or maybe the ozone layer, maybe it's going to be whatever it 00:23:50.540 |
I think scientifically, most people know that the earth is going to somehow die. 00:23:57.700 |
Either we're going to destroy it or naturally it's just going to be destroyed. 00:24:02.020 |
So the fact that the world is headed toward that, right, is not debated. 00:24:08.900 |
The only thing that's debated is if you don't believe God, you don't believe that God has 00:24:14.780 |
But we know that just as we, just like we said, we didn't come from amoebas that just 00:24:19.820 |
decided one day to have a brain and then started walking. 00:24:22.740 |
We know that God had specific hands in His creation, and so we also know through the 00:24:27.900 |
Book of Revelation that the end is also going to be determined by God the Creator, that 00:24:33.460 |
He is sovereign in the creation, He is sovereign in what we're doing, and He is sovereign at 00:24:38.460 |
And so that's how the Bible pictures it, okay? 00:24:41.020 |
So that's, again, in a nutshell, maybe a year from now you're not going to remember all 00:24:45.980 |
the details, but at least you kind of have some idea when you think of the Book of Revelation 00:24:52.940 |
It's like, "Oh, I don't know what's going on in Revelation," right? 00:24:56.380 |
I really want to encourage you to, not just today, but at some point, go through it through 00:25:05.140 |
And I know Revelation is not like, "Oh, I'm doing quiet time, you know, verse by verse 00:25:09.260 |
through the Book of Revelation," but hopefully this gave you enough so that you wouldn't 00:25:15.380 |
And I guarantee you, this is my third time teaching through Revelation, and I gained 00:25:19.260 |
much more through this third time than I did the first two times. 00:25:22.300 |
And the reason why is because sometimes you go through a rabbit trail and you ask a lot 00:25:27.260 |
of questions that kind of doesn't have clear answers, and then you just get confused. 00:25:31.460 |
So I realize that the Book of Revelation really is meant to be studied like if you're looking 00:25:42.380 |
I don't know if you've, and I'm not artsy in any way, but there's some kind of paintings 00:25:50.140 |
where you could see the painting and you can see the emotion behind the painter. 00:25:56.700 |
You can see if they're lonely or angry, right? 00:26:04.980 |
So there are certain type of emotions that are better expressed through painting. 00:26:13.560 |
Just when you look at the painting, you can see what was in that person's mind and heart 00:26:19.760 |
And I think the Book of Revelation was meant to be understood that way, that the vision 00:26:25.200 |
that John has is not like every single thing we try to dissect and we don't understand. 00:26:32.920 |
Why did he use upstroke and not downstroke here?" 00:26:35.700 |
I think it was meant as a whole picture to make an impression. 00:26:42.960 |
When anybody studies the Book of Revelation, the impression is God is on His throne. 00:26:49.440 |
No matter how chaotic things may be, God is completely in control and He is being worshipped. 00:26:55.000 |
There is an end to man's history, that all that seems attractive and beautiful at one 00:27:00.300 |
point, there's going to be an end and it's going to be utter destruction. 00:27:11.160 |
That all that we've been looking for and all that we temporarily chase, the real fulfillment 00:27:16.240 |
is in Christ when He comes in His second kingdom. 00:27:18.960 |
These are big pictures that every single one of these visions, in one of those main themes, 00:27:27.080 |
So when we think about judgment, we don't just think about what He says. 00:27:37.600 |
Somebody at some point in history has painted every single scene of the Book of Revelation. 00:27:44.620 |
So that when you think about the seven seals, you're not just thinking about verbally. 00:27:48.960 |
Like we think about Ephesians, we think of chapter 3, chapter 4, chapter 5. 00:27:53.120 |
But Revelation, you see a painting that made an impression. 00:27:56.780 |
So you have some idea of what judgment may look like. 00:28:00.880 |
And so all the things that we're talking about would have, again, not just mentally, but 00:28:06.440 |
emotionally and willfully have an impact on the way that we live our Christian life. 00:28:11.520 |
The rest of the time, I'm going to ask you guys to, in your small group, take some time 00:28:16.600 |
One is, what is the general outline of the Book of Revelation? 00:28:18.600 |
Make it as broad as possible, no more than five or six titles. 00:28:22.640 |
So maybe chapter 1 through 3 would be the introduction and the three churches or six, 00:28:39.200 |
So that if I said chapter 14, you don't say third seal. 00:28:45.440 |
So when I say, what chapter are all the bold judgments? 00:28:53.840 |
So bold judgments is all concentrated in one chapter. 00:28:58.280 |
The trumpet judgments are scattered in like three or four chapters. 00:29:02.640 |
And then the seal judgments are, again, in one chapter, and only one of it is the next 00:29:09.160 |
So you don't need to spend too much time on that, just so that you have some idea. 00:29:13.620 |
If I said chapter 18, chapter 14, chapter 12, you have some idea what is in there. 00:29:19.120 |
Number two, what are some similarities and distinctions between the seal, trumpet, and 00:29:28.240 |
Thirdly, what is the general impression, how is the demonic work generally described in 00:29:41.400 |
Just in your memory, what is an impression that was made based upon Scripture, of what 00:29:46.260 |
the Scripture says demonic work is going to look like? 00:29:48.860 |
Four, what is the general impression of God's judgment at the end times? 00:29:55.260 |
So what are some things that you remember from that? 00:30:00.180 |
What was one theme that kept coming up throughout the visions that John saw throughout the letter? 00:30:06.160 |
For me, the biggest thing that, at least for this time around, was God sitting on his throne. 00:30:13.520 |
That's the theme that I kept saying over and over, at least in my mind. 00:30:16.080 |
So what are some things that kind of made an impression on you? 00:30:18.400 |
And then six, describe heaven in one sentence. 00:30:22.360 |
If maybe every person in your table, at least just one sentence, how would you describe 00:30:28.320 |
heaven based upon what you've read and what you've studied? 00:30:31.760 |
So I'm going to ask you guys to take some time to discuss that. 00:30:35.320 |
Richard, are you able to put the next, like put, can you put the third one, or this one 00:30:44.880 |
on these screens and then the last one on the middle screen? 00:30:52.280 |
So the next question, discussion question, is basically was your homework. 00:30:58.620 |
So if you are done discussing, take some time to, this is more of an application, like what 00:31:04.600 |
did you personally learn about God, about yourself, about sin? 00:31:08.320 |
And so take some time to discuss that as well as you wrap up. 00:31:12.040 |
So I'm going to pray and we're going to finish and I'm going to let you guys go to your groups. 00:31:15.760 |
But after we're done, we don't need to put away the chairs. 00:31:21.040 |
So we just need to put the trash away and then throw it away. 00:31:23.480 |
The college students also have their meeting here this Friday, so we're just going to leave 00:31:39.800 |
We thank you, Lord God, for the Holy Spirit that continues to teach and guide. 00:31:46.480 |
We pray that you would open our eyes and help us to glean from the things that you've already 00:31:52.400 |
I pray that you would bless our small group time, help us to be honest and open with one 00:31:56.960 |
another and that as iron sharpening iron, that we may be sharpened as a result of the