Transcription
Okay, let me illustrate very quickly in 17 minutes. You know, a picture is worth a thousand words. Here we go.
This is the book of Revelation in seven, see, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, seven events. And here they are. Number one, we are the church on earth. And Revelation connects all those passages and more that say the church on earth ends with Jesus taking us. So Revelation one is saints love and serve God as we await his coming. We struggle through life. That's Paul. You know what Paul called Christians in Greek? Soon agonomi. Two Greek words. Soon means with. Agonmi means what? It sounds like agony. He said Christians are fellow strugglers. We struggle through life. So God shows us Jesus. That's what the Revelation is about. He's the risen God, the Son. In all his power and glory, he comes to help us and stand with us wherever we are. Did you know John was way off the coast of Roman Asia on a Roman prison colony? And on the Lord's Day, he hears a sound behind him like a trumpet. And when he turns, this is Revelation one. We're going to see next hour. When he turns and looks, it's Jesus. Now, do you think that's the first time Jesus showed up on Patmos? No. It was the first time John noticed it. And it was to show him, look at this, that he stands with us anywhere we are and everywhere we are.
Secondly, chapters two and three is Jesus walks among us in his church pointing out to each of his children what we're doing both right and wrong so we can be even more useful to him and we're going to spend several class hours looking at that. Well, the second event we see the church is in heaven. And by the way, this is the only chapter that's broken up. The church is in heaven around the throne here in four and five. And then we have all this stuff, the tribulation. Then we see the church again in heaven ready to come back. So it's the only section that's broken into two pieces and we have the church in heaven and that connects this. Where do we give an account for our lives? And so Jesus brings us each safely to heaven just like he promised. We see ourselves there standing around his throne after we've finished the plan he made for our lives here on earth. See, God has a plan for you and for me. He made us a specific way. He put us in a specific family. He made us look like we look. Everything you can't change about yourself, like who your parents are, how rich or poor they are, what side of the tracks you lived on, all of that stuff, what you look like. They didn't pick that and you didn't pick that. God picked that. And it's part of his plan. And there's something you can do nobody else can do. David when when God wrote David's epitaph in Acts, boy, I love the book of Acts. I'm glad you guys study that. In Acts 13, the Bible says this. God said this. When David fulfilled God's purpose in his generation, you understand that that's David's epitaph. God says, David did what I designed him to do. Imperfectly, committed, broke all ten commandments, committed adultery and murder and broke the Sabbath day and defamed God's name. You know, all those things, but he fulfilled my purpose. God wants to see if we're going to finish the plan he made for us.
Well, then here comes the main part of Revelation. In fact, this part of Revelation has one word in one verse that everybody in the world seems to be fixated on. You know what that is? Armageddon. That only is once in the Bible. It's in Revelation 16:16. I heard Elon Musk say it last week. Well, two weeks ago on the news when they were burning the Do you remember when they were burning the Tesla dealerships and Tesla cars all over the country? Do you know what Musk said in his beautiful South African accent? Oh, they're just doing bringing an Armageddon to our He actually said that. An Armageddon to our Tesla dealerships. Armageddon. See, everybody's heard that word. They call traffic a trafficdon. They call weather a weatherdon. You know, they they get that Armageddon thing. Well, what is that? Lost humanity believes in evolution, denies biblical creationism. So, the creator himself shows them his power. Earth dwellers. Earth dwellers. That's the term God uses for unsaved people. Seven times in Revelation it says those who dwell on the earth. Those who dwell on the earth. Those who dwell on the earth. Seven times they believe they've got to save this planet. They believe they should revere this planet. They believe their highest calling in life is protect this planet. And God says, "Okay, if you don't revere the creator, I'll show you earth dwellers who worship mother earth." So God allows natural disasters to amplify. That's what the beginning of the tribulation is. Global warming really gets warm. You know, food scarcity really gets scarce. Uh, you know, weather really gets wild. The sun and and you know, the solar cycle gets on maximum. It's like someone turns it up to high. Unbelievable.
Next in chap that's only chapter 6, 7, and 8. Chapter nine of Revelation. Lost humanity is fascinated with demons. So God opens the pit. The pit. That's interesting. Did you know every human being who's ever lived from Adam and Eve on is still on this planet? The lost ones. The saved ones are in the presence of the Lord. The lost ones are here waiting in what the Bible calls Hades, shield the grave or Ezekiel loves the term the pit. They're here and on part of that pit has these things, these cosmic monsters and so they feel chapter nine is all about that and we'll cover that. Lost humanity wants to rule themselves, so God sends the fake Jesus, the beast he's called, you know him as the Antichrist. He has 33 different titles in the Bible. He is the incarnation of Satan and he's the worst human who ever lives. And he leads humanity to destruction by becoming their god. Then Armageddon. Lost humanity, believes in evolution, reveres the earth, denies biblical creationism. So God systematically destroys everything, the atmosphere, the oceans, the land. He sends the biggest earthquake ever, smoke and fire, red tides, all the fish in the sea die. Global warming, I mean, it burns everyone's skin. Uh, volcanoes, tsunamis, asteroids, comets, meteors, the final divine environmental destruction. And then we have Armageddon. Lost humanity wants false religion, so God destroys all religion. That's chapter 17. Lost humanity wants comfort and entertainment and possessions more than God. That's the idolatry of covetousness. So God destroys everything in a moment in chapter 18. And then look what happens as Paul describes it in flaming fire taking vengeance on those that know not God nor obey him. That's what the second coming is followed immediately by the fulfillment of 28% of the Old Testament of Jesus literally ruling the earth and then after a thousand years almost all humanity won't follow him. So lost humanity rejected their creator and redeemer. So Christ the King returns. He rules for a thousand years, keeps all of his promises, renews the earth. Everyone finally gets to live in a perfect environment and almost everybody rebels. So chapter 20 is the final judgment and he casts all the rebels in the lake of fire. And then and this is what really buzzed the early church. They couldn't wait for this to dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Nero had a house during this time period that was acres and acres. I mean, Bill Gates and I don't know who has a big house these days. Uh, Gates does have a large one, but nothing compares to the size of Nero's house. It was acres. He had a lake inside of his house that boats could fight battles. Galleys could fight. It was in the courtyard of his house. And so everyone knew they'll never have a house like that till now, till they dwell in the house of the Lord. So as saints in chapter 21 and 22, we see ourselves enjoying God's invitation. We dwell in his captivating, satisfying, sustaining presence. God is with us and we're at home in heaven forever. So this is going to be important. I'm going to show it to you every hour. This is this is the bulk of your 20-point final exam. Matching understanding and not getting tricked by the the kind of uh events, the seven events of the book of Revelation. [Music]