Revelation 1:1-3

Revelation chapter 1 I want to read the first three verses and then I’m going to look at the end of the book and read two more verses. The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. And he sent and signified it by his angel under his servant John. who bear record of the word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein for the time is at hand. And then if you would, chapter 22 of the book of Revelation, in the very last chapter of the book of Revelation in verse 6. And he said unto me, these sayings are faithful and true, and the Lord God of the Holy Prophet sent his angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. And then, if you’ll skip down to verse 10, and he said unto me, seal not the sayings of the prophecy, book. For the time is at hand. May God bless to us, His sacred and holy word. This morning. The book of Revelation is a bewildering book. It’s not easy to understand even for the mature child of God. What is portrayed in this book in this book in picture form? is baffling to the mind. Good men have widely differed in their interpretation of the book, sometimes taking extremely opposite views of what the book is teaching. There are four main interpretations of this book. The first is known as the Historist interpretation. Revelation is a very main interpretations of this book. survey to them of the whole of church history step by step. In order to make this occur, they take the word days to mean years, so that each day is a year, so that when it talks about 1260 days, they make that 1, 260 years. And that’s how they approach the book. The preterist is the second. way, and I am not going to talk about full preterism because I think that would be heretical. But I will talk about partial preterism. The revelation is mostly fulfilled in the past, except for perhaps the last few chapters when we look at chapters 20 to 22. So that the book is highly figurative in nature, but it has a contemporary approach. The third view is what we call the futurist view. We’re probably more familiar with this view than any other. I was raised with this view, and most of the churches, people that you might contact from the various churches would probably hold this view. That everything after chapter 3 awaits future fulfillment. They take a very literal approach to the book for the most. part. And the fourth view is what we call the idealist view. The idealist view is that there’s no specific fulfillment of the overall teaching of the book. All we have is these overall principles reoccurring themes for all ages. I will admit, and I think anyone who reads this book will admit it is a brilliantly written book. by the inspiration, of course, of the Holy Spirit. And it draws heavily upon the Old Testament, particularly on the major and minor prophets of the Old Testament. What makes the book so difficult is that it is a book of signs. And notice in verse 1, it says here that he sent and signified it by his angel and signified it. to a servant John. The word signified there means, we might call it signified. He expressed it by signs to John. And so throughout this book, we have all these different figures and characters and pictures of things that are symbolic representations of approaching events. For example, in the book, we have a dragon, but the dragon is Satan as it is revealed to us. We also have a beast, which is a king, and sometimes it is his whole kingdom that is being viewed. We have a harlot. The great harlot, it’s mentioned in his book, which is actually a city. We have candlesticks. But this chapter one is… will tell us that these are actually churches. Since there’s seven of them, there are seven churches of Asia Minor that are mentioned in the book. There is a slain lamb. But, of course, the picture of the slain lamb is really of Christ, as we find in Chapter 5. The only way to understand this book’s system of symbolism is really to be very familiar with the Bible itself. And this is why young Christians who go to this book all excited about the future, thinking that they are going to get some kind of special understanding of what’s going to take place. Maybe they read the headlines in the newspaper and try to match it up. I don’t know. But let me just put it this way. In order to really understand this book, you have to have a good knowledge of the scriptures. Because it draws on so many different… things from the Old Testament, and even in Christ’s teachings that sometimes, that it’s very demanding on our knowledge of the Bible itself. The revelation of Jesus Christ, you’ll notice not the revelation of John, the apostle. It is the unveiling, if you would, of Jesus Christ that we’re told about here. Something hidden by Christ is going to be brought to light, and I suggest, it is his reign as king at God’s right hand. It will be looked at verses 4 to 6 in particular. He brings this up. But throughout the book we’ll see this. This will be a blessing to the saints of God because he will assure us a victory over all our enemies. And that’s one of the themes of this book. And it is also doomed for Christ’s. enemies, he will pour out unspeakable judgments on those who are opposed to Christ in his kingdom. Now, it is with some fear and trembling that I undertake any type of study on the book of Revelation. I’m only doing this because I’ve been asked to do it. It will be in the form of a brief overview of the book rather than an extensive or detailed study of the book. I don’t have all the answers for every detail of this book. And therefore, I come to you, and what I will do is what I would normally do in studying a passage of scripture like this or a book like this. Well, we might not have all the answers. And that is to lay a foundation. What is the foundation by which we can interpret the book, even if we don’t get every little detail right? how do we know we’re on the right track? Now, you can ask questions whenever you would like to ask questions. I don’t say that I have the answers to all the questions you might ask, but you can ask questions as we go along, and that’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this in the Bible study so that you would have that flexibility. Now, this morning, I was going to do a study and was going to end up being too lengthy, so I had to split it in half. On the contemporary, nature of the book of Revelation. And so it’s going to be in two parts. The one has to do with the time references that are specifically laid out for us at the beginning and the end of the book that I read. The second part of this, and I’ll do that, Lord willing, our next study, will have to do with the references that I find in the book showing a contemporary nature as we go along. So as we go through the book, there are passages that indicate to us a contemporary nature of the book. So let me start with this thought. The time is at hand. Those receiving this book could expect a soon, a quick fulfillment of the content of the content. of this book, these prophecies. Any honest, straightforward approach to these time fulfillment statements, I think would lead you to conclude that the prophecy must shortly come to pass. And by that I mean in the lifetime of John’s readership. Now look at the terms that are used. You’ll notice in verse 1. He says, these things must, and I’ll focus on this word shortly, come to pass. This word shortly means quickly at once, without delay, with speed. Now let me, I know this may seem tedious, but let’s take a look at how this term is used in other places in scripture. Particularly I’ll focus on the book of Acts, because I think that would be an easier way than looking throughout a lot of texts of scripture. Let me just take you the book of Acts real quick. And let’s look at chapter 12 of the book of Acts. Let me begin with verse 5 here. We find that Peter has been thrown into prison for preaching. Peter, therefore, was kept in prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. chapter 12 verse 6 and when Herod would have brought him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers bound with chains and the keepers before the door kept the prison and behold the angel Lord came upon him and a light shined in the prison and he smote Peter on the side and raised him up saying arise up quickly and his chains fell off from off his hands. And the angel said unto him, gird thyself, bind on thy sandals. So he did. And he said unto him, cast thy garment about thee and follow me, and he went out, followed him, wist not that it was true, which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision. When they were past the first and second ward, they came into the iron gate that leadeth under the city. city which opened to them of his own accord and they went out and passed on through one street and forthwith the angel departed from him and when Peter was come to himself he said now I know of assuredy the Lord have sent his angel and have delivered me out of the hand of Herod and from all expectation of the people of the Jews. Now in verse 7 when the angel told him to arise up quickly here it means it once in order to have a hasty escape from the prison lest he be killed. So it was immediate, quick at once. Look at Acts chapter 22 in verse 17 of Acts. 2217 and it came to pass when I was come again to Jerusalem even while I prayed the temple I was in a trance. He said and saw him saying unto me make haste get thee quickly out of Jerusalem for they will not receive thy testimony concerning me and I said Lord they know that I was imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed I’m imprisoned and beat in every synagogue them that believed on thee and when the blood of thy martyr Stephen was shed. I also was standing by and consenting unto his death and kept the raiment of them that slew him and he said unto me depart, for I will send thee far hence under the Gentiles. Now, when he told him to make haste and get the quickly out of Jerusalem, he means immediately escape, depart from Jerusalem lest you be killed here. For am I of a purpose to send you out among the Gentiles to proclaim the message of the gospel. And then look at chapter 25 of the book of Acts. In verses 1 to 7. Now when Festus was come into the province, after three days, he ascended from Cessori to Jerusalem. Then the high priest and the chief of the Jews informed him against Paul, and besought him and desired favor against him that he would send for him to Jerusalem laying weight in the way to kill him. But Festus answered that Paul should be kept at Cessaria and that he would depart shortly thither. Let them therefore, he said, which are among you, go down with me and accuse this man if there be any wickedness, him. And when he had tarried among them more than 10 days, he went down under Cessaria, and the next day, sitting on the judgment seat, commanded Paul to be brought, and when he came, the Jews, which came down from Jerusalem, stood round him, and laid many engrievous complaints against Paul, which they could not prove. Now, shortly, when we see the Roman ruler, here saying I’m going to shortly go back to Cessaria from Jerusalem. It meant just after 10 days, a little over 10 days, a very short, quick period of time. Now let me take one Old Testament example here from the book of Genesis in chapter 41. And beginning with verse 28, Genesis 41, 28. This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh, what God is about to do, he showeth unto Pharaoh. Behold, there cometh seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, and there shall arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine shall consume the land, and the plenty shall not be known in the land by reason of that famine following, for it will be very grievous. and for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice. It is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. Shortly, if you look at verses 46 and 47, it seems that no sooner does Joseph get the position of second in command in Egypt, and told to take care of the storage of the grain. You’ll notice he was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, King of Egypt, verse 46. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt, and in the seven plenious years, the earth brought forth by handfuls. And then in verse 53 and 54, and the seven years of pleniousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended and the seven years of dearth began to come according as Joseph had said and the dearth was in all lands but in all the land of Egypt there was breath this seems like it occurs very quickly that they had to to be prepared and so shortly here has this idea of quickly and shortly and once practically And I think that’s how we should understand the text here in Revelation. The second phrase is at hand that is used here in chapter 1 and verse 3. The time is at hand. Look with me at Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 24. We’ll see a few places where this is used. I’m not going to weary you this, but I think you should take seriously these other passages, because this is the way. how the word is used. So when we come to Revelation, we don’t try to come up with some different view of what this term means. Matthew 24, verses 32 to 34. Now learn a parable of the fig tree. When his branch is tender, and put it forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh. It is at hand. It’s the same word in the Greek. So likewise, ye, when you see all these things, know that it is near, it is at hand, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass to all these things be fulfilled. Now notice here that to be near or at hand has reference to the particular generation of which he is speaking here. He’s speaking to the people of his day. Jesus is saying this generation shall not pass till this occurs what he’s talking about and that previously has been speaking about the destruction of Jerusalem. Look at John 19, verses 41 and 42, if you would, for another passage. 1941 and 42. Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden, in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never made. yet lay. There lay they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews’ preparation day for the the sepulchre was nigh at hand. And so we have the idea of it was close by. It was not at a distance. And they took the body and buried Christ. There. Look at John chapter 2, if you would. verse 13. It says in the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And then if you look down to verse 23, now when he was at Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day. So we see here how quickly the Passover came on. It was close in hand, maybe within a day or so, and he goes to Jerusalem for the purpose of going to the Passover. Now, let me look at one other passage, and this one will be from the Old Testament. Look at the book of Ezekiel, and I think this is probably the most pertinent passage of all. It really is applicable to our circumstances in the fulfillment of prophecy. Chapter 12, beginning with verse 21, of the book of Ezekiel. And the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man, what is that proverb? that ye have in the land of Israel saying, the days are prolonged, every vision faileth. Tell them, therefore, thus saith the Lord, God, I will make this proverb to cease. They shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel, but shall say unto them, the days are at hand and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision, nor flattering divination, within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord, I will speak, and the word that I speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged. For in your days of rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, said the Lord God. Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, the vision that he seeth is for many days to come. and he prophesieth of times that are far off. Therefore, say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, there shall none of my words be prolonged anymore. But the word which I have spoken shall be done, said the Lord God. Now notice, in this prophecy that he talks about and the judgment upon Israel, they’re saying, well, that’s for, you know, another generation, that’s for years ahead. And God says, no, it’s it’s not. You tell them the days are not going to be prolonged, and that the judgment’s going to come in your day, and you’re going to taste it and feel it, and so forth. Now, I would suggest that this passage is very relevant then to our book of Revelation when it says the time is at hand. The same idea could be carried over. So shortly, and at hand, carry out the nearness, the contemporary nature of the book for us, lay it out for us. You’ll notice how revelation not only opens with this idea of nearness, but at the end of the book, he closes as if he’s emphasizing this idea of nearness. Because chapter 22, he says the same thing, using the same terms. In addition to that, in chapter 22 in verse 10, of the book of Revelation, do you remember what he said there? He says this. And I think this is very relevant to our circumstances as well. He says this, seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book for the time is at hand. Don’t seal them up, as if, you know, they’re for a long period off in the distance. Now, this is significant, because if you look at Daniel chapter 12 with me and verse 4, we have the opposite being stated. And the book of Daniel, chapter 12 and verse 4. God says this, but thou, O Daniel, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, even to the time of the end, many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. of the significance here of these two statements, I think, is important to consider. Daniel is specifically ordered to seal it up because his prophecies have a long-term outlook. They deal with the time from the Babylonian Empire, all the way to, of course, of course, the time of the Romanian Empire, all the way to, of course, of and the Messiah’s coming, and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, as Chapter 9 tells us. But the ideas, these things are often at distance a lot of what Daniel prophesides. So he has to seal up these things, to store them away, so to speak. The fulfillment of much that was given to him was often a distance. John is told, Not to sealed up because the fulfillment of the book is right at hand. It’s going to happen immediately. Now, any interpretation of the book, which ignores these clear time references, cannot possibly be correct. Now, there are some objections that people raise, and one objection is this. Well, John speaks of God’s time and not ours time. the Bible says in 2 Peter 3.8, one day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. So an event, 2,000 years away is near unto God because it’s just two days away. Yes. Why does the same fly in Daniel? What can I say? When it’s convenient, it applies, right? The problem with this view is that John’s original readers were told to expect something to occur. soon right away. It’s at hand. And it wasn’t conveyed according to God’s timing, but to man’s timing. He’s telling you it’s going to occur in your lifetime. Peter was dealing with the very opposite problem from John. The question is, why is Christ’s coming seemingly delayed? People were scoffing and say, well, nothing has changed since the beginning of creation. Christ is not coming back. This idea that is Christ coming back is just nonsense. So they were mocking the second come. So Peter is explaining from the divine perspective that God is patiently awaiting for all his elect to be called to salvation first. In other words, he’s not willing that any of them should perish, but all of them should come to repentance and then Christ will return. a thousand years is nothing with God. He is fulfilling his purposes. And he’s busy gathering and all is elect first. So the time element is not important in that situation. No man knows the day nor the hour when Christ is going to come. There’s no statement about how quickly Christ was going to come on this. And so John wants his readers to be prepared for severe persecution. and the outpouring of God’s wrath to avenge his suffering, Satan, servants, and it’s going to happen right away. So he has to prepare them for this. He expect this to occur soon. Whereas Peter seems to indicate there could be a long time before Christ comes back again. So Peter is explaining a delay, while John is telling the people of God, hey, things are going to fall out real rapidly here. So that is one way we should understand this section of Scripture. we should not think that 2 Peter 3.9 can be used to somehow offset this passage in Revelation. The second argument that people, objection people bring up is this. Well, there will be a rapid fulfillment of the prophecy once it begins to come to pass. In other words, there could be a long time before it begins to come to pass, but once it starts coming to pass, it’s going to fall out quickly. That’s the second way people try to get around this. The idea is that a thousand years may pass first, but when the prophecy begins to come to pass, it will rapidly unfold. I like this to chopping down a tree. Once the tree begins to topple over, it falls down quickly. In the meantime, there might be a lot of chopping to do before the tree falls up. over. Well, this may possibly explain the word shortly. It certainly does not dispense with the teaching of the time is at hand that I think the text talks about. I think this is a very serious problem for this idea. The varied expressions of time. Does he have to tell how many times they have to say? Shortly at hand to make us realize, I mean now. I mean soon. Well, let me draw a couple of conclusions here, and then if you have any questions, maybe you would like to ask, that’s fine. The hysterist may complain. If you don’t see this book as speaking of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church and its downfall and destruction by God, then you’re pro-Catholic. One must one be a hysterist to be against the Pope and the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church when it comes to the Book of Reformed? Revelation. I believe the Pope to be an Antichrist and have regularly condemned the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church in this church. But the time and hand statements means the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church can’t be possibly spoken of in the timeframe of this book. We can’t, we can’t, we can’t do it. The historicist can’t easily do it either. He has to make one day equal a thousand years, so that the 1,160 days gives us 1,160 years, so we stretch it out to the time of the Roman Catholics. And the Pope. The futurist who comes along and tells us that complains that people do not interpret revelation literally, as all prophecy should be according to them, unless it’s specified specifically otherwise, But one should not decide the interpretation and the approach to that interpretation on his own, apart from the Word of God. We don’t come up with the idea, well, let’s interpret everything literally, and then go to the Word of God. We go to the Word of God and see how it interprets these prophecies. Your interpretive approach should be gleaned from Scripture itself. Let the Scripture interpret scripture. How does it interpret prophecy? That’s what’s important to us. Now, since Revelation is signified or signified, as verse 1 tells us, we should expect these symbols throughout the book, and they’re not understood literally. After all, when I see a sea monster coming out of the sea and the book, of Revelation 13, I’m not going to be looking in the pages of the newspaper to see if the Loch Ness Monster has surfaced recently or not. That’s not how we go about interpreting the book. When we see Jesus spoken of as a lamb as it had been slain in chapter 5 of the book of Revelation, I don’t expect when I get to heaven that I’m going to see Jesus in some kind of lamb form. These are symbols. But what is amazing to me, for those who claim to be a literist, a literalist, I mean, they refuse to take the time references literally. If you want to be a literalist, okay, here it is. Take this literally. It means write it right away at hand. The idealist. He sees no specific fulfillment of any of these prophecies of Revelation, just an over-generalism. overarching principles that apply to every age. The problem with this view, and this is the difficulty I have with it, it doesn’t actually interpret the text. It just sort of takes a general idea and throws it out there for us. It doesn’t tell us why is this relevant for the people of John’s day. Why is it so urgent that John has these people understand this message? I don’t think the idealists are taking seriously the contemporary time frame demanded by the opening verses of the book. It is true. All scripture can be generally applied to every Christian. And so the general application, I don’t have trouble with the general application. I want to know what the specific application is, and then you can go to the general application. When you read First Corinthians, it has specific application. reference to the events related to the church at Corinth. Does it, do we use it to apply to our church today? Sure. But didn’t it mean something to that particular church especially? I think it does. In the same manner, those in John’s Day would find the book of Revelation specifically dealing with events unfolding in their time frame. The actual meaning of its significance was for John’s day in particular. Now, think about this thing, do you think when we deal with Joseph and the years of famine and the years of plenty, do you think God was just giving a general teaching about expectation of good years and bad years in the life of everybody? Is that what that teaching was really about? Was he teaching you to realize that you will know what it is to abound sometimes and how to be a base sometimes, as Paul says in the book of Philippians. Is that it? Don’t you think when he says this will shortly happen, it means for Pharaoh in Egypt to immediately take action by Joseph and store up the grain lest you die? It has specific meaning for them. Can I say this? Joseph may have perished if he had been an idealist and ignored the time frame for the prophecy to come to pass. going to happen immediately. So what does that leave me? That leaves me with the partial preterist view. To me, it’s the only approach which takes seriously the time texts which govern the interpretation of the book. If we don’t, if you take a fatal first step, if we get off on our first step in the book of Revelation, to me you can’t come up with the right conclusion. And so my suggestion to you, and I don’t say you have to agree with me on anything that I’m teaching. All I’m saying is give me a hearing. See if this doesn’t make sense to you. See if this doesn’t make the book more relevant to the situation in hand in John’s Day. But if you take the wrong step starting out, you just can’t end up in the right place. All right, I’ve said enough. Any other, any thoughts or comments on this first? study. And now, next time, Lord willing, we’re going to look at throughout the book. So I’m going to show you that can so that it can’t be something while it could go a thousand years, then all of a sudden when it starts to come to pass, it’s going to quickly come to pass. we’re going to see that throughout the book there’s a time reference that’s contemporary. Yes. Keith. I think it has to do with the second coming of Christ. The passage that we’re looking at, if you look at that all of that discourse, there are two things that are talked about there. One, I believe, is the destruction of Jerusalem, and the second is the second coming. The first part of the book, he gives us all kinds of there’s going to be wars and rumors of wars and all this. It’s going to happen. When you see Jerusalem surrounded with the armies, you know, get out, all that has like time reference to it. There’s like, when you see these things, know this, it’s going to happen, it’s nigh at hand. But when it comes to the second coming, like in Noah’s Day, they’re eating and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage, just going along normally as they would. There’s no, like, uproar, no excitement about the times and way that something bad’s going to happen. No ominous events on the horizon. It’s as if things are going along normally, and all of a sudden Christ returns. So I see those are, those, I think he makes those two distinctions there. So the one, he seems to be saying when you see this happening, when you see this happening, when you see this happening, get out, get out of the city, flee, you know, things are going to happen. When the other occasion is you should be prepared because we don’t know the day or the hour, so it’s going to be as if life is going all along and then boom, I’m going to return. Does that make sense? Anything else? Close a little word.