The Things Which Must Soon Take Place

 

 

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, ² who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

Revelation 1:1-3

Good Morning my beloved,

 

We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord. Thank you for joining us today, we're glad to have you here. We are especially grateful for those of you who have been sharing the ministry website with all of your family and friends. Your faithfulness to share God's Word with others continues to bring about tremendous results. We are grateful to each of you. And through your sharing, God has brought a number of people to Christ. Praise God! May He continue to use you and this ministry mightily to effect change in even more lives.

 

The book of Revelation, unlike all other New Testament books, is a prophetic book concerning the events of the last days. The name comes from the Greek term "apokalypsis," meaning unveiling or revelation. From which we get the word apocalypse. This Revelation comes to us by the Holy Spirit through the Apostle John in a series of astonishing visions. These incredible visions unfold with vivid imagery, strange symbolism's, and language that is foreign to most of us today.

 

Unveiled in the book are the invisible forces and spiritual powers at work in the world and in the heavenly realms, including forces at war against the church. 

 

John, was in Ephesus, ministering to the church there and in the surrounding cities, when he was arrested. Now up in years, he is likely in his eighties, over sixty years since the Last Supper in 33 A,D., is exiled on the Island of Patmos by the Romans authorities for his testimony about Jesus Christ. Nearing the end of his life, he wrote the book of Revelation in around A.D. 95-96, Irenaeus declared that that it was written near the end of Emperor Domitian’s reign.

 

Not unlike any other book in the Bible, many people have challenged that the Apostle John was the author of Revelation. However, second century witnesses to the Apostle John’s authorship include Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian. There are insignificant differences in style between Revelation and John’s other writings, however, there is nothing that preclude John haven't have written them. 

The seven churches,to whom the letter was addressed, were existing churches in Asia Minor, which we know today as modern Turkey. These churches were strong and spiritually healthy in the mid-60s, when the Apostle Paul last ministered in Asia Minor. So, the spiritual decline of the 7 churches, in chapters 2 and 3, also suggests the period of time. The brief period between Paul’s ministry in Asia Minor and the end of Nero’s reign would have likely been too brief for the decline to have occurred. This would have also explained the rise of the Nicolaitans, who were not mentioned in Paul's letters.

Before we begin our study of the book of Revelation, I would like to note that its message is not meant to frighten us, but to encourage us. As we study this book together we'll discover what God's message was to the Christians in the first century and what its message is to all of us today.

 

Malachi, the last writing prophet in the Old Testament, and the closing of the Old Testament cannon, the prophetic gift seems to have been long forgotten. However, in the New Testament, there was a flurry of prophetic activity.

 

In the book of Revelation, Christ spoke to the church, the uniqueness of His letters to these churches is, that they all include an assessment which leads to either a commendation or a threat. We often think about the Lord threatening the world with judgement, however, most Christians don't really think about the Lord threatening the church. As we will see through our study of the wonderful prophetic book, Lord of the church does exactly that, threatening His church with very severe judgment.

 

Let us pray

 

Heavenly Father,

 

Father, we thank You for Your Word. Lord, I pray that You would speak to every heart receiving this message, who has not received salvation through the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sin, eternal life, the hope of heaven, I ask that You would do that mighty miracle in them and break the power of sin and guilt in their lives. Open up their eyes and ears to the truth. 

Lord, for those of us who are in Christ, keep us there, and make us to be faithful. May Christ be exalted in Your church. All for Your glory.

In His name we ask and pray

Amen

Today's Message: The Things Which Must Soon Take Place

I cannot understand why we would expect the world, filled with unregenerate, unsaved sinners to repent when the church won’t even repent. I believe that unless the church repents, turns from her sin and unholiness, there is no hope for the nation. In this passage of Scripture, Christ addresses specific churches, with very strong language and calls them to repent and reform. This something that is not acknowledged, it's not discussed, but I believe it's critically important. 

However, impenitent churches refuse to repent! That's how it was in seventeenth century England, when on August 24, 1662, Saint Bartholomew’s Day, two thousand English Puritan pastors were permanently ejected from their churches by the corrupt clerics of the impenitent Church of England. These Puritans pastors were calling on the churches of England to repent for their doctrinal deviation, heresy and extensive corruption. These churches were functioning in defiance of their confessed Lord and Savior. 

 

Stating that you either got in line with the Church of England or you’re out! This was done under a law called the Act of Uniformity. This not only had a devastating effect on the church, it still continues even today. The Great Ejection was a long enduring spiritual disaster that divides England's history. The uniformity led to the Great Ejection, which silenced the majority of faithful preachers. Many say it was greatest tragedy ever in English history.

 

Some twenty-five years after the Great Ejection, there were still many attempts to silence the scattered preachers, while they had literally been throw out of their churches, they were anything but silent. We are now more than 500 years past the Reformation, when Martin Luther pinned his Ninety-five Theses to the door of the church at Wittenberg and launched the Protestant Reformation.

Open your Bibles with me to the book of Revelation chapter 1. There is no book in all of Scripture that reveals the glory of God and Jesus Christ, in any greater magnificence and grandeur, than does this book. 

Before the book of Revelation gets to the judgment of the world, it begins with three chapters addressed to the church. 

In John 15, on that Thursday night of Passion Week, Jesus told His disciples, "If the world hates you, ^]you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates Me hates My Father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘They hated Me without a cause.’"

 

Within thirty years after that night in upper-room when Jesus was with the apostles, the persecution began. There had been some persecution before that, but the all out persecution began under Nero in 64 A.D., who was the dominate power Rome, which lasted until 68 A.D. During that time, thousands of Christians that were killed in all different kinds of ways, including in that slaughter were the Apostles' Peter and Paul.

 

The second great official persecution, which our Lord also predicted, began under the Emperor Domitian, and lasted from 81 to 96. It was under this persecution ,that John was sent to the Isle of Patmos, a prison colony, for the Word of God and his testimony of Jesus. Historians tell us he was boiled in oil before being sent there. It was during this period, that John receives the Revelation from God.

 

The island of Patmos, located in the Aegean Sea southwest of Ephesus, is a rock that sticks out of the Mediterranean and is about ten miles long and five miles wide. All the other Apostles' have been martyred, John is the last living Apostle. There is a reason why he survived the boiling oil, there is a reason why he is the last living Apostle. There is one more book that needed to be written.  And that is, the book of Revelation.  

 

I invite you to follow along with me as I read to you these first three verses, to set the text in our minds, as we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit is saying to each of us. Revelation 1:1-3. 

 

"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near." 

 

In North America, though we have faced much opposition, especially in recent years, have never faced persecution. Get ready, it's coming. 

 

There are four basic approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation. I won't go into great detail, but I'll just touch on these different perspectives. 

 

The preterist approach interprets Revelation as a description of first century events in the Roman Empire. It is not only impossible to see all the events in Revelation as already fulfilled, such as Christ's Second Coming, which obviously did not take place in the first century, it directly conflicts with the book’s own often repeated claim to be prophecy.

 

The historicist approach interprets Revelation from a panoramic view of church history from apostolic times to the present.  This interpretive method deprives Revelation of any meaning for those to whom it was written, as well as ignores the time limitations the book itself places on the unfolding events.

 

The idealist approach interprets Revelation as a timeless depiction of the cosmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. This method does not see any specific events prophesied in the Revelation and severs any connection with actual historical events.

 

The futurist interpretation insists that the events of chapters. 6–22 are yet future, which symbolically depict actual people and events yet to appear on the world scene. Furthermore, this interpretative method describes the events surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ, the Millennium and final judgment. I believe that only this view does justice to Revelation’s claim to prophecy, while maintaining a future hope for Christians of all ages.

 

The first three verses tell us the how and for what purpose the Revelation was given, and then pronounces a blessing on both the reader and obedient listener. And ends with a warning, "For the time is near."  Revelation is a prophetic book that unveils our blessed hope! Therefore, let us approach these words with their due awe and reverence.

 

Verse 1, begins "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John."

 

Let's start with "The revelation," this is important, because it the key to everything that follows. The very nature of this book is that it is an unveiling, a revelation. The truths which have been previously concealed and are now being revealed. The truths that were carried on the back of symbols, carried on the back of figures of speech in the Old Testament.

 

As a footnote, out of the 404 verses, there are no direct quotes, however, no less than 275 of them have some reference to or some connection with Old Testament prophetic truth. Truths which were only initially insinuated in the Old Testament. There is literally an explosion of in depth detail about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

 

As we study this book, we will find that it reveals warnings to the church about its besetting sins. It also reveals instruction to the church about the need for holiness. It reveals the glorious power and strength of Christ, in overcoming sin and Satan. It reveals the end of human history, as we now know it. It reveals the ultimate and final end of Satan and sin. It is the Revelation; the apocalypse, the unveiling, the disclosure of details until now, were hidden from human view. It is not so much a revelation from Jesus Christ as it is the Revelation about Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the theme and future glory is the emphasis. 

 

John goes on to say "The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants."

It wasn't written for us, but is to be shown to His bond-servants. In other words, God has given us the great privilege to see it. It is to be shown to people who are the willing slaves of Christ, which is the very clear reason why non-Christians find this book unintelligible, incomprehensible to understand. They conclude it is complex, vague or obscure, to the unbeliever, to the hypocrite in the church, the book is chaos, because it was never intended for them. The true Christian, the slave of Christ, will understand this book, to them, this book is anything but confusing. 

 

It's as Jesus said in Matthew 13, when He was teaching in parables, and said to His disciples, "I speak to them in parables because while seeing, they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." This book is for Christians, and no one else can understand it. In verses 16 and 17, Jesus said "But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it." 

 

Then John writes "The things which must soon take place." I want to make note, this is a very important phrase, because this book differs from all other New Testament books. The gospels tell us what took has already taken place, the first five books of the New Testament are about the past. The next 21 books, are about the present and how we are to apply the realities of the work of Christ now, and then, we come to the last book, which is all about the future. "The things which must soon take place." The word soon is the "tachos," it implies a swiftness, quickly. It is a word that speaks about the velocity of this book.

 

One we get to chapter 6, it begins to feel as though you are moving at the speed of light, it moves very quickly. So essentially, we’re going on a journey into the future. This is not an evangelistic book, though God will use it to save sinners, because it's astounding power will impact unbelievers who hear its truths.

 

At the end of verse 1, John writes about its supernatural delivery."And He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John." By the way, this is the only book in the entire New Testament that was transmitted and delivered by angels. The Lord has chosen to bring the message to us by angels.

 

Acts 7:53, tells us in the Old Testament, the Law of Moses was delivered by angels. "You who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it."

 

The word sent is the verb "aposteilas," from which we get the word "apostle," carries the idea of a commissioned representative with authority. It's interesting to note, that angels appear in almost every chapter in this book, nearly seventy times. As we study this book, you're going to become closely acquainted with the angels. 

 

Verse 2, "Who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw." In both his youth and in his older years, John was a surely faithful witness.  A true witness to the Word of God, and he saw the Word of God through these incredible visions brought by to him the angels, to the testimony from Jesus Christ. John wrote down exactly what he saw in these visions brought to him by angels.

 

In verse 3, we come to the impact of of all of this, a personal impact. "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

 

God's promise in this book, is if you listen to this book being read and explained, and you hear it with obedient ears, and you heed it in your life, you’re going to be blessed. That is the promise of God. Now, I'll go one step further, there are seven beatitudes in the book of Revelation. I'll give you the reading which includes the explanation, you have to listen, and then you must apply it. 

 

As we get into our study of the book of Revelation, you find a lot of things that come in sevens. There are seven churches, seven spirits, seven candlesticks, seven stars, seven lamps, seven seals, seven horns, seven eyes, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven thunders, seven-thousand, seven heads, seven crowns, seven angels, seven plagues, seven vials or bowls, seven mountains, seven kings, seven years of judgement, seven "I AMs" about Christ, and there are seven doxologies in heaven. Seven is the number of completion.

 

This marvelous book of Revelation, is God’s last word. We don’t receive anything beyond this point. 

 

In Closing..

 

If you've been living a life that has been controlled by lust, and sinful habits that you know are wrong, and you have never put your trust in Jesus Christ, as your Lord and Savior, I would like to encourage you call on His Name in prayer today.

 

In Romans 10, Paul wrote "For “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!"

 

This is God's love letter, He's sending you His blessing. I pray that you will receive it.

 

May it be so..

 

And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen

 

 

 

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