How Should We (Can We) Read This Book?

to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

John to the seven churches that are in Asia. Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so, amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come the Almighty. Let's pray. Lord God, our Father, You have promised blessings to us if we read this Word, if we read this book.

Would You please begin that blessing this week as we embark on this study? We are asking for insight and for wisdom. Father, You know that this is a difficult book, and yet it is a book that is so important for us. Would You please, Lord, open its message to us in the ensuing weeks and months that we might understand who You are and who our Lord Jesus is and that we might have transformed lives as a result of the truth that we learn here.

Help us this day to understand some things that will orient us to this book that we might understand it in the way that it should be understood. And we will thank You now and throughout eternity. Amen. Moses Stewart became professor of sacred theology at the Andover Theological Seminary in 1809 Soon after his appointment his students began to beg him to press him to teach on the book of Revelation He said this about it, I commenced study of it with a desire to comply with their request.

I soon found myself, however, in pursuing the way of regular interpretation as applied to other books of Scripture, completely hedged in. I frankly told my pupils, therefore, that I knew nothing respecting the book which could profit them and that I could not attempt to lecture upon it. After still further examination, I came to a resolution not to attempt the exegesis of the apocalypse until a period of ten years had elapsed, which should be devoted, so far as my other duties would permit, to the study of the Hebrew prophets.

I kept my resolution. After this period had passed, I began with much caution to say a few things in the lecture room respecting the book in question. In the process of time, I began to go through the whole book. This I have done several times. This was written in his 1,000-page, two-volume commentary on the apocalypse, which he published 36 years after he was appointed to that position. was Stuart Moses foolish for his caution?

The book of Revelation is like a jigsaw puzzle. It appears to contain many intricate, interlocking pieces that make up the whole picture. And yet, as many people have attempted to put the puzzle together, they've come up with all kinds of different pictures. To some, Revelation describes the church's past. To others, it speaks of present realities. For others, it's an encoded prophetic message of things that are going to happen in the end times whose code has been broken by getting all the pieces with the straight edges.

Now frankly, I have to tell you something. I hate jigsaw puzzles. It has nothing to do with the book of Revelation. Just puzzles. And I do know this though, even though I've never ever spent enormous amounts of time trying to put one of those crazy things together. I do know this.

That you look for the pieces with the straight edges Because then you put together the framework of the picture And so that what we want to do this morning We're going to grab the straight-edged pieces of the puzzle this morning. And by doing that, get a strategy for reading and hearing and understanding this book. All right? So we're going to give you four pieces today.

Four straight-edged pieces, four markers, somehow to frame our understanding of this book. Alright? Here's the first. You need to read right. Yet this book pronounces a blessing on those who would read it, hear it, and understand it. In verse 3, as the book begins, we read this.

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy. And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. And as the book closes, in chapter 22, we read these words. And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. Although we should exercise caution in approaching the book, we need to read it, we need to understand it, because God promises blessings on those who would read, who would hear, and who would understand.

And so we begin our study on the book of Revelation. Now here's the question that occurs to me as we begin. How do you begin a study of this book? Let me suggest to you that we begin putting the pieces of the puzzle together. Prophecy is not mainly about predicting the future. Prophecy is not primarily about predicting the future.

The Old Testament prophets were messengers, were preachers, who came with a message directly from God for the people of God. And only if you take all of the prophecy of the Old Testament and do a study on it, you would find that only one quarter of all the Old Testament prophets was even devoted to anything in the future. So be careful about associating the word prophecy only with the end times.

Prophecy occurred when a specific situation called for a message from God. And that message, again, was not primarily about the future. It was a message that sometimes warned sometimes encouraged sometimes challenged almost always called people to repentance And the revelation as a prophecy Look at verse 3. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy.

And blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it for the time is near. This is a prophecy. You say, what is prophecy? When I was growing up, every year, particularly in my high school years, every year we had, for several years, an annual prophetic Bible conference. Now, when I say that to you, you can imagine what that was all about. It was a whole week devoted to studying the Bible about the end times and the signs of the end and all those sorts of things.

All right? It was all about studying the end times. Now, as we've studied prophecy here in Sunday school, we just got done recently with a whole series on the minor prophets. As we've even looked at Old Testament prophecy, what have we learned? We've learned a few things about Paul. He thundered against them to repent of their defiled worship and their defiled marriages. but only twice in the entire book does he refer to a future messenger and a future day of the Lord.

So what's the point? The point is, remember that when you hear the word prophecy, it is primarily about a particular message from God for a particular situation, not primarily interested in the future, but predicting the future for purposes of moving the people to their challenge, to their warning, to their repentance. And so the book of Revelation, when you look at it, is a prophecy required by the situation faced by the seven churches that are identified in this book.

It warns them. It encourages them. It calls them to repentance. Some of it is about the future return of the victor. The intention of the message, when it did talk about the future, the intention of any predictive element in the prophecy had primarily present application. It was not given just to tell us and inform us about the future.

You remember, as we look at Old Testament prophets, that the intention of the message in predicting the future was to serve the purpose of encouragement or warning or challenge. or repentance. Do you remember Haggai? Remember Haggai? I could look it up in my schedule, but Haggai, you remember, some months ago, his prophetic message was what? It is time to rebuild the temple of God.

That was his prophecy. It is time to rebuild the temple of God. And only a few verses were devoted to a future king and to his coming kingdom. Do you remember Malachi? Malachi thundered against God's peace, Jesus, which is intended to serve the purposes of warning them and challenging them and moving them to repentance. Now here's another important point that we certainly need to see in that Revelation is not merely prophecy, but Revelation is the culmination of prophecy.

It's the end of prophecy in the book. In fact, it's as if John, standing in the line of the Old Testament prophets, John now takes all of that Old Testament and brings it to its final end, to its final goal. And when you read the book of Revelation, it draws together images that pervade Old Testament prophetic visions and it brings them to fulfillment.

For example, we read this morning of these four beasts from Daniel 7. Well, the beast of Revelation 30 Bible scholars, who is the beast? It's Nero. No. It's Mussolini. Uh-uh.

It's Hitler. Nope. It's Henry Kissinger. Wrong. It's Mikhail Gorbachev. Uh-uh.

It is Barack Obama. Now that is seemingly the way most of the study of Revelation has gone. I remember as a kid, this huge chart stretched across the front of the church. This huge long, it stretched across from, there was a wire that was from that wall to that wall. It stretched across the whole front of the church and it was this great big chart that purported to explain the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation has become the basis for a series of novels, which in turn has become a movie series about all the horrible things that are supposed to happen in the end times before Jesus returns Moses Stewart was no fool to take his time in understanding this book The team is a composite of those four beasts from Daniel 7 The world kingdoms that oppress the saints until the Son of Man receives dominion. The two witnesses of Revelation 11. The two witnesses of Revelation 11 are the two olive trees that you find in Zechariah 4.

The woes of judgment that fall on the harlot Babylon sound almost exactly or echo the woes that were pronounced against Israel's oppressors called Tyre and Babylon, and you find them in the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Isaiah. sound almost exactly the same. So, Revelation is the culmination and the fulfillment of much of those Old Testament prophecies. Alright?

Revelation brings... Well, you didn't see it. When Levi was reading Daniel 7, I was looking at Revelation 13. But what you find in Revelation 13 is that these four beasts come up as one beast that looks like a leopard, and has the horns and the iron teeth and all that kind of stuff. So Revelation 13 takes the four of Daniel 7 and puts them together into one.

Now here's another important point. And this is really important. So we have to understand this. Since it's a prophecy, do not read Revelation chronologically. Don't read it chronologically. Don't read it as if you're reading a history already, a history of the future.

It's not a chronological book. It doesn't line up for you. This happens, then this happens, then this happens, then this happens. You say, why is that? Because it uses something that we might call anticipation. For example, take your Bibles now and turn to Revelation 14, verse 8.

Revelation 14, verse 8. Another angel, a second, followed, saying, Fallen fallen is Babylon the great she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality Here Babylon is judged But wait a minute. When you skip ahead to chapter 17, then you see Babylon judged. So when does Babylon get judged? Well, it's anticipating that. It's talking about that already.

Although it's not happened yet. Revelation 6. Look at Revelation 6. Revelation 6, 12. When He opened the sixth seal, I looked and behold, there was a great earthquake and the sun became black as sackcloth. The full moon became like blood and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.

The sky vanished like a scroll that's being rolled up and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful and everyone slave and free hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come and who can stand?

Now turn over then to chapter 16. Chapter 16, beginning in verse 17. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple and from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on earth. So great was that earthquake.

The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And God remembered Babylon the great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. and great hailstones about 100 pounds each fell from heaven on the people and they cursed God for the plague of the hail because the plague was so severe.

You see almost the exact same thing. So you can't read this book as if it's chronological. You can't do that. It's not a chronological book. Now that brings us to the next point and this is really important. It uses what's called recapitulation.

Recapitulation. Alright, turn again to Revelation 6. Alright, now, I want you to just look at it because we just read it. Revelation 6 12 When you read that it sounds like the end has come It has Like it is in Exodus What's the point? Here's what we need to understand. The book is so full of Old Testament images that you can only understand the book of Revelation in light of the Old Testament.

Now that may come as a surprise to you. For most of us, we've been said you can only understand in Revelation in light of the newspapers. But what you're going to find instead is that Revelation is chock full, just almost entirely full of images from the Old Testament. By the way, there's other images, not just the Old Testament. He draws images from the culture of that day that those people would understand.

He draws images from the myths of that day that people would understand. But primarily these images are coming from the Old Testament. So if we're going to understand the book of Revelation, we're going to have to go to the Old Testament. Did you see the connection today between Daniel? And behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud, one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven and he too had a sharp sickle.

And another angel came out from the altar. The angel has authority over the fire. And he called out with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.

By the way, another image from the book of Isaiah. And the winepress was trodden outside the city and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 16,000. Final fulfillment, the Old Testament pictures that have always pointed forward. For example, in the book of Revelation, what do you find again? You find the tree of life. Where do we read of the tree of life?

We read of it in Genesis. When you come to the end of the book of Revelation, you find the tree of life in paradise. You see in the book of Genesis, the ancient serpent whose murderous lies seduced the woman and plunged the world. into a whole flood of misery, when you come to the book of Revelation, you see the serpent again, waging war against whom?

Against another woman and her son and her other children. But this time, his doom is sure and it is short. What's really fascinating is that the plagues that struck Egypt show up again in the book of Revelation with the trumpets, the seven trumpets and the seven bowls. Almost exactly at a different angle each time. And not only that, something else happens.

Sometimes the recapitulations are progressive. So God hits the chapter skip, we go back to chapter 2, and we watch it again from a different angle. Now another time, He hits chapter skip and we go down to chapter 4. We don't go as far. But this time we go further down the movie, down the story. And then he may come back, and we can recapitulate again, and maybe this time take us further.

So sometimes the recapitulation is progressive. It takes us a little further down the story. So it's retelling a number of times the same thing from a different angle, sometimes taking us further down the story. That's why you cannot read this book chronologically. It's not intended to be read chronologically, okay? Am I making sense here?

I've been praying, oh God, don't make this sermon boring. But what a lady. He says, it looks like the end has come. It has. That's a description of the end. And there's seven of these, by the way.

All of them talk about the end. No, what's going on? It's what you call recapitulation. It goes like this. God takes His remote control and He hits the chapter skip. and he goes back on the DVD, right? And then he runs it to a certain point, then he takes it and he hits the chapter skip and he goes back again and he runs over the same story again, only this time, unlike our DVDs, it's from a different angle.

You've got a different camera angle. And then he hits the chapter skip again and we go over the same period again, only from a different angle So you see what happens is he telling the story several times Only from a different angle is the end That is the end. And then you come to chapter 11. Look at chapter 11, verse 18. Verse 18, The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.

And God's temple in heaven was opened and the ark of the covenant was seen within His temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. He's talking about the end for those who are God's enemies and the rewarding of those who are His servants. It looks like the end has come. It has. That's the end.

Alright, now look at chapter 14. Chapter 14. Then I look at the apostles, even though they're the same thing. And what I think is going on, and I hope I get this solidified when we get there, is that the trumpets are talking about God's wrath poured out on the earth during the whole history of the church, calling people to repentance. A third of the ships are destroyed.

A third of the grass is burned up. But when you come to the bowls, the bowls clearly are the final wrath of God. Nothing. Everything is destroyed with that. So you have this progressiveness. This isn't the end.

Quite, this is. So you have this recapitulation. So what I'm saying here is, don't read it chronologically. You can't read this book chronologically. It's not intended to be read that way. So, like any prophecy, Revelation speaks of the future some of the time, but not all of the time.

Let me put it this way. The book of Revelation is about the end times. When did the end times start? When Jesus first came. The whole New Testament is built on the idea of this. when Jesus came, the end arrived. We are in the end times.

We been in the end times since Jesus first came The end times are not this little period of time right before Jesus comes We been living in it And the whole book of Revelation is about the end times All right? If you understand end times correctly, this book was not given to these seven congregations to give them a detailed picture of life more than 2,000 years later, a life that they never would understand anyway. He talks about events that will affect the forces threatening Christ's church in Western Asia Minor and the forces that still affect...

We've got to get the straight edges down. We've got to frame the picture. So what I'm trying to say is, when you come to the book of Revelation and you try to read it chronologically, you're going to miss it. And so what people have done is say, this happens first, then this happens, then this happens, then this happens. No, that's not the way the book is written.

Now that's going to throw a lot of these systems all out of whack because they're based on this, like first this, then this, then this, then this. It's not that case. Here's an example of the progressive recapitulation. When you read the trumpets, the trumpet judgments, the first four trumpets are exactly the same as the first four bowls. It goes seals, trumpets, bowls.

So, the first four trumpets sound exactly like the first four bowls, except the trumpets don't wreak as much havoc as the bowls. Everybody listen. Everybody listen. Listen. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ. Not revelations.

Don't ever, ever say revelations again. A Jack Russell Terrier all curled up on their covers. There have been times where I plopped right down on that bed and heard this squeal. Now you know why you shouldn't. Because it's called the revelation of Jesus Christ. This whole book is the revelation of Jesus.

That's the idea behind the word apocalypse. And this book is the revelation or the unveiling or the full disclosure of the glory of Jesus Christ which is now hidden. The full glory of Jesus is now hidden to us. But when we come to this book we see the glory of Jesus unveiled fully disclosed for us even before He comes We see it fully disclosed It is called the revelation of Jesus Christ because it is the revelation of Jesus because it comes from Him.

The prophecy rightly understood. It comes from Him. You notice in the first two verses, God gave it to Jesus the Revelation or the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ. That's the way it goes. Alright? So it's a Revelation of Jesus because it comes from this book.

That's why, for example, when I told you about him. Now here's what you must see. And that is that this is a Revelation that uses symbols. It is the Apocalypse, the Revelation, that uses symbols. The word translated revelation is the Greek word apocalyptic literature. Or apocalypsis, as we might say.

Apocalyptic literature. What is that all about? A little bit of grammar. There were a lot of books written in the days of John that were like the book of Revelation. They used a lot of symbols. And so we get this word apocalyptic.

An apocalyptic book discloses its message by impressing vivid, startling, almost bizarre pictures on your imagination. That's the nature of apocalyptic literature. By the way, we have a few examples in the Bible of apocalyptic literature. Look at the book of Daniel. There you find some wild and crazy beasts like the lion with his eagle wings and they pluck all his wings off and then the lion stands there like a man.

Stands on two feet like a man. And later on, you come across this crazy beast with iron teeth and all of a sudden, He's got these ten horns growing out of his head. And then a couple of them are uprooted. And then a little horn comes up. Only this horn has eyes on it and a mouth like a man. Bizarre?

Yeah, really bizarre. Or you can go to the book of Ezekiel. In the first couple of chapters, you see these crazy beasts. I mean, they're really crazy looking beasts. and all of a sudden, each of these four beasts has these fiery wheels with them. They're wheels within a wheel. And on the outer rim of the outer wheel are human eyes.

That's wild, man. That's crazy. That's apocalyptic living. In Zechariah, you see these pictures of a lampstand and two olive trees and a flying scroll. What's the issue here? The issue is it uses these kinds of really wild, bizarre pictures.

That's the nature of this kind of literature. But here's the thing to notice. These symbols do not hide the truth, but they disclose or they reveal the truth. The symbols are not intended to hide the truth. The symbols are intended to pull back the covers. So you see the true nature of things.

When you say to me that George is a wolf, you use a symbol, you use a metaphor in order to communicate to me the true nature of George. George's true character. to me to me George Luke appears he looks like he appears to me looking at him and talking with him he appears to me to be like a really nice guy a really nice fellow but you say to me watch out for George George is a wolf now what are you telling me here's what you're saying to me he's not a nice guy at all he appears nice he's not nice at all in fact he is a cunning elusive man who is dangerous in all his relationships. He preys on people.

He takes advantage of them until he completely destroys them. But how do you communicate the true character of George to me? You use a symbol. So the bizarre images in Revelation reveal, disclose, unveil the true character of the events and the individuals and the forces and the trends that we as Christians face. Now, how does this symbolism work? Just like this.

John and every one of us who read his book here are taken up into heaven. Alright? It's like we're taken up into heaven. And what happens is, from there, we gain God's perspective on what's going around us right now and God's perspective on what will yet happen. For example from our perspective we may appear weak helpless hunted poor defeated congregations of Jesus faithful followers But from heaven perspective in the book of Revelation we prove to be true overcomers who participate in the triumph of the lion who has conquered as a slain lamb.

Now you see those symbols there, don't you? we look like we're utterly defeated, helpless people before the juggernaut of the world around us, when in fact, from heaven's perspective, using these symbols, what do we look like? We're conquerors through the lion who conquered by the slain lamb. Or, from our perspective, we may live in a wonderfully advanced society that can provide us with all the comforts we could possibly desire.

And boy, we ought to just work so that we can have the freedom to produce everything we can. And man, it's a wonderful thing. But from heaven's perspective, we're being seduced by a whore by the name of Babylon. And who together with all her lovers are going to be destroyed when the conquering King Jesus comes again. That's a whole different way of looking at life, isn't it? but that's what the book of Revelation does.

It uses the symbols to uncover the real meaning of what's going on. You see? It's like this. This book creates a symbolic world which you can enter so fully that it affects and changes your perception of the world and your responses as you live in that world. You see? It gives you the true...

It doesn't hide the truth. It tells you what it's really like through those symbols. You see? Now, this also says something about the way you interpret the book of Revelation. And that is this. You must interpret.

You must interpret Revelation symbolically and not literally. It's not intended to be interpreted literally. it's not that kind of a book now if I'm going to the epistles I do if I'm going to the historical narrative I do but not this book you say to me George is a wolf If I would reply to you what are you nuts You're nuts. George isn't a wolf. Have you seen him with pointy ears?

Have you heard him howling at the moon at night? What are you talking about? He's not a wolf. Now, what's the point there? I miss the point. If I take what you say to me literally, I'm not understanding you at all. am I?

Not at all. I've missed the point. Same thing as the book of Revelation. My dear daughter-in-law once was talking to one of her boys and he was making his point and making his point and making his point and finally she says, son, you're beating a dead horse. Of course. Right?

If you take it literally, you miss it altogether. You're going to miss it. So it's not intended to be interpreted that way. It's not that kind of literature. It's the kind of literature that's intended. What do the symbols tell you?

What are they saying? Alright? Look at chapter 11 for a moment. I'll just pick this one out. Chapter 11, verse 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.

And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. They have the power to shut the sky that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying. And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they desire.

And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom in Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days, some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb. and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and exchange presents because these two prophets had been a torment to those who dwell on the earth But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them and they stood up on their feet and great fear fell on those who saw them. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, come up here.

And they went up to heaven in a cloud and their enemies watched them. And at the hour there was, and at that hour, there's this great earthquake and a tenth of the city fell. 7,000 people were killed in the earthquake and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. Now, read that literally. Here's where the literal translation comes out.

Here's Elijah and Moses resurrected from the dead. Because that's the picture there, right? Elijah, keeping the rain from falling. Moses, striking with plagues. Here's Elijah and Moses, obviously resurrected from the dead. They go on prophesying.

And if anybody tries to make trouble for them, they got fire. It comes out of their mouth. destroys people. But you know what? At the end, the beast kills them and their bodies lay in the street for three and a half days. And the whole world sees it. How can the whole world see it?

We have television. And so television is zeroed in on those bodies lying in the street and suddenly the whole world's merrymaking. They're saying, wow, these guys tormented us. It says the whole world. Right? Now that is the sort of thing that I've been taught.

But listen. This is not to be taken literally. Besides, we already have the clue of what this stands for. The lampstands, you hear about that in Revelation 2 and Revelation 1. And olive trees, olive branches, olive trees, Zechariah chapter 4. There's our interpretive keys right there to the symbols that are there.

So my friends, to translate this book literally is to miss the point. You won't get the point of this book if that's what you do. It's not intended to be that way. It wasn't written that way. It was written to be understood symbolically. Well, how do we know what the symbols mean?

Well, we have to do some digging and understand the Old Testament and see what was going on in their day. That's how we understand. So read Revelation as an apocalypse. A world of symbols intended to show you the real meaning of what's happening. Alright? Read Revelation as an epistle.

A letter. This is a letter. It's a prophecy. It's an apocalypse. also a letter. How do I know that? Well, look at chapter 1, verse 4.

John, to the seven churches that are in Asia, grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings on earth. Here you have a typical opening salutation of a letter. Sounds like the Apostle Paul when he starts things like the book of Ephesians and so forth.

So this is opening. And it closes like a letter too. It closes like a letter. Alright? Look at chapter 1, verse 10. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamon and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.

So here, God Himself commands John to what? Send this to these churches. Alright? Now, so we have to understand that Revelation does not begin with seven letters, as we're in the habit of saying. It doesn't begin with seven letters. Rather, it is one letter addressed to seven congregations.

It is one letter addressed to seven congregations. The entire book, all 22 chapters, is a letter. Okay? It's a circular letter that was written and intended to be passed from church to church of those seven congregations identified in chapter 1, 2, and 3. So, let me say that again. We're wrong when we say this book starts with seven letters.

It's not. It's one letter. The whole book is that letter. We say, Pastor Tim, why are you making such a big deal out of that? Because many have overlooked that fact. And because they've overlooked that fact, they've misread the book.

When we say that chapters 2 and 3 are seven letters addressed to seven churches, here's what happens. Chapters 1, 2, and 3 are for the people back then. because that seven letters are given to them And then from chapter 4 to the end is for the future generations Because we past the seven letters No we not Because it's not seven letters, it's one letter. Because we haven't identified that as one letter, we've misread the book.

So that from chapters 4 to the end is for future generations. No. chapter 4, 5, 6, 11, 16, 17, 18. That was intended for those original seven churches. This is a letter to them. So if we're going to understand this book, then we have to understand it from the viewpoint of the first century brothers and not from our 21st century point of reference. If we don't see it as one letter to them, what we tend to do then is to say, it says nothing to them because it's talking about us.

Wait, no it's not. The whole book was talking to them. Living in the first century. This is a letter addressed to a church under attack. This is what we must see. The attack of persecution leading to martyrdom.

Alright, so let's look at Revelation 2. Revelation 2, verses 10 and 11. This is the church in Smyrna. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Now, let's just stop there. What you are about to suffer.

What are we going to find out? Where are we going to look to find out what they're going to suffer? The rest of the book. The rest of the book is going to tell us how they suffer. not some future generation well it will include us but in order to find out what that suffering is it's what they're about to suffer behold the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and for ten days you will have tribulation be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death now turn over to chapter 14 chapter 14 verses 12 and 13.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus And I heard a voice from heaven saying write this blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on Blessed indeed says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors for their deeds follow them So, when we get to chapter 14 and we see all these things going on up to 14, what we're going to see is this is what they're suffering and they're called in the midst of that suffering to endure. Alright? So in this book, God intends to awaken you to the dimensions of the battle so that you will respond to the attacks with faithful endurance.

But that's not all. The church is under attack. The attack of seduction leading to defilement. The church is also under the attack of seduction leading to defilement. So, chapter 2, verse 20. Here's the church in Thyatira.

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel. Remember her? Old Testament. who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of their works, and I will strike her children dead.

And all the churches will know that I am He who searches mind and heart, and I will give each of you according to your work. See, the church is not just persecuted. The church is also being seduced. Alright, now let's turn over to chapter 7. The Word of Hope. Chapter 7, verse 14.

I said to him, Sir, you know, and he said to me, these are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. So we've been made white in the blood of the Lamb, but please notice chapter 19. This is addressed to a church like Thyatira. Listen to what he says in chapter 19, verses 7 and 8.

Let us rejoice and exalt and give Him glory for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints Thyatira you being seduced What are you going to do I going to trust in Jesus and I'm going to keep myself pure so that I will be at the wedding supper with the fine linen that is the righteous deeds. You see, God intends by this book to awaken you to the strategies of the enemy so that you will respond to the seduction with purity. overcoming by the blood of the Lamb.

See, God also warns and challenges those who are affluent, who are rich, and who are starting to compromise with the oppressive system. It's not just being oppressed by the system. It's being seduced by it as well. That's what this book is about. Now, this book is addressed to us at LaRue Baptist Church. Why?

Because we experience what these seven churches experience and so the book speaks to us. But he also addresses us directly. You know that? See, I didn't see LaRue Baptist Church in there. Ah. Listen to what he says.

As he speaks to each church, he says, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. And so this book does address us directly. God always intended this book to address every generation of Christians. He who has an ear, let him hear. You see, Jesus makes a promise to each church with these words, to the one who conquers, I will, and then He gives a promise.

What does it mean to conquer? It means you have to read the rest of the book because the revelation of Jesus teaches you to understand the true nature of what's happening now and what you have to do to conquer. So he addresses that to us as well. Finally, I know you're waiting for that word. Read Revelation with its purpose in mind. Though the enemy's might is portrayed in this book, the enemy's might, here's what this book does through the symbols. it says, you know what?

You think you're floating along. You think you're doing alright. There is a hideously powerful energy. And He is swallowing people up. And there's symbol after symbol, picture after picture of the power of this incredible foe that we face. But that's not the last word in this book.

The last word is about the joyful celebration of those who have been redeemed by Jesus. This book is about the triumph of the Lamb. You want to know what the book of Revelation is about? There it is. It's about the triumph of the Lamb. It's about the victory of Jesus.

In what ways? Well, that victory is to motivate the suffering church to endure tribulation. It is the suffering church. It gives us the hope. It motivates us to endure tribulation But not just that the victory of the Lamb is also in this that the tempted church remains a pure bride for her groom Jesus' victory will be complete when we are presented to Him a pure bride.

The book is about the triumph of the Lamb in the lives of those who suffer and in the lives of those who are seduced, who are trying to be seduced. It's about the victory, the triumph of the Lamb. Well then, here's a framework for reading, hearing, and understanding this revelation of Jesus. Read it as prophecy. Read it as apocalypse. Read it as a letter But most of all read it as the revelation of Jesus to his people involved in an incredible battle Read it for what it surely is, the revelation of the victory of the Lamb.

So let's enter this study of Revelation expecting the blessing promised by God for those who would read, hear, and understand. Father, thank You for this book. We anticipate Your blessing because You have promised it. And so Father, I just ask that You would grant us insight. And an insight not to satisfy our curiosity, but Lord that we would approach this book as a message from you to us A message that is intended to transform us and cause us to live righteously godly purely and enduring in this world.

Thank you Lord God for the victory that is in Jesus. Thank you that he is king. It seems that we don't see him ruling and reigning, but we're thankful for a book that displays the righteous reign of Jesus. Thankful for a book that opens to full view the fact that what we see is not the true reality. The true reality is a conquering lamb. thank you father in his name amen