Revelation 1:7

Revelation chapter 1 I’m going to read verses 4 to 7 our focus here has been on verse 7 John to the seven churches which are in Asia grace be unto you and peace from him which is and which was and which is to come from the seven spirits which are before his throne and from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first beginning of the dead, the prince of the kings of the earth, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever, amen. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see. him. They also which pierced him, and all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, amen. May God bless to us his holy and sacred word this morning. Now we have been looking at the theme of the book found here in verse 7. And we have said there is a difference of opinion on how this is to be viewed. We’ve been looking at the particular phrase about Christ coming with the clouds. And we said that Christ’s coming, there are several ways in scripture in which he has said to come. We know there are obviously the second coming where he comes physically, visibly, brings an end to the world as we know it and so forth. But he’s also, in the book of Revelation in particular, we see it in reference to the churches, says he’s going to come. He’s going to come to the book of the church at Ephesus, and if they don’t repent, take away their candlestick. To another church, he says that he’s going to come quickly and judge those false teachers in the church with the sword in his mouth and bring a quick and decisive judgment against them for what they’re doing and so forth. So we’ve seen passages in the Old Testament where God is said to come on the clouds, to bring judgment upon particular nations and so forth. And then we said, well, how else does he use this word coming in the book of Revelation? We looked at some of the passages to the churches and how there’s a reference to him coming. But in particular, there were two verses or two seconds. or passages in Revelation. We looked at Revelation chapter 10, verses 1 to 7, where we saw Christ as the mighty angel and the seven funders go forth, and these are judgments. But it’s not, he comes with a cloud there, but he does not come as the second coming because it is the, in the midst of the sixth trumpet judgment that he comes. And there’s still the seventh trumpet judgment, and there’s still the seven trumpet judgment, and there’s still the seven, and vow judgments to come. So we know that that’s not the second coming of Christ. And last week we began looking at chapter 14, and that’s where I want to pick up today. We begin to look at chapter 14 and begin to look at chapter 14 and begin verses 14 to 20, because here we have the second passage in which Christ is said to come with the cloud. So let’s look at that. 14 to 20 of chapter 14. And I looked, behold, a light cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the son of man, having on his head a golden crown and in his hand a sharp sickle. Another angel came out of the temple, saying with a loud voice to him that sat in the cloud, thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time has come, for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth or the land is ripe. He that sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth where the land was reaped. And another angel came out of the temple, which is in heaven. He also having a sharp sickle, and another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and he cried with a loud voice to him that had a loud voice to him, the sharp sickle saying, thrust in the sharp sickle, thy sharp sickle, and gathered the clusters of the vine of the earth, or the land, where her grapes are fully right, and the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth or land, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. And the wine-press was trodden without, the city and blood came out of the wine press, even unto the horse bridles by the space of 1,600 furlongs. God bless to us his word here. Now in this passage, we see two harvest associated with Christ coming on a cloud. The grain harvest and then the grape harvest. We were looking at this particular passage of Scripture, call this one like the Son of Man. This is the same phrase, ology that was used in chapter 1, referring to Christ, and him among the seven candlesticks. It’s clarified in chapter 2 of Revelation, verse 18. It actually is the Son of Man, when he refers to the same individual in chapter 1, and the same characteristics. It’s the glorified Christ who’s coming. He’s crowned, as we see here, because he’s the king of all. He rules until he brings all enemies under his feet, and here he is going to do so. He’s coming on a cloud. The treading of the great wine press of God’s wrath is a clear indication of impending judgment. We mentioned chapter 19, verse 15, of the book of Revelation, that Christ treadeth the wine press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. said it’s possible to view these two harvest, the grain and the grapes, as exclusively applying to the destruction of the wicked. We mentioned Joel chapter 3, verses 12 and 13, where it seems that that’s the case. Sometimes God gives a double dream or double vision like he did with Pharaoh in order to emphasize the significance of the vision and the shortness of time. Some see the grain harvest as referring to the salvation of the elect, God pulling them out before he brings judgment on the rest of the land. Either way, what is important for this study is the limited nature of the cloud judgment. That this isn’t the second coming. You notice it relates specifically, we said, to the earth, verse 16, verse 19. Or to the land, the land of Israel. You’ll notice in verse 6 of this same chapter that the land is separated from the rest of the nations. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach another that of them that dwell on the earth or the land, and, in addition to that, to every nation, kindred, ton, and people. That’s chapter 14. verse 6. And so you notice the distinction here. This is the same order that Christ gave to the Jew first and then to the Gentile with regard to the spreading of the gospel. The vine of the earth that’s mentioned twice, or the vine of the land, verses 18 and 19, we said, has reference to national Israel. In the New Testament, it has reference to the the true church of Christ as well. I think if you really look at it and we see what it’s all about, we see that the vine is supposed to represent the true people of God. What happens is that the people of God in Old Testament, we show their apostasy and God breaks down the walls and let the wild beasts trample on his vineyard, which you recall was the captivity and the judgment, you recall, on the Jews for their apostasy against the church. And we see, if you look at Psalm 80, I’m not going to look at Isaiah 5 versus 1 to 7, because we looked at that last week, but let me just mention Psalm 80 versus 8 and 9. We see another idea with regard to the vine here. Thou has brought a vine out of Egypt and has cast out the heath and planted it. Here he plants, he brought his nation out, planted it in the land of Canaan, thou preparers room for it, and it’s caused it to take deep root and fill the land, you see. So we have here the same idea. In Matthew 21, do you remember Jesus told the story, or the parable, if you would, of the vineyard owner who has a vineyard, he rents it out to people who are husbandmen to take care of it for him. And then he goes into a far country. But the idea is that he expects them to bring forth fruit, and so he sends servants to them, but they reject the servants. Finally, he says, I’ll send my son. And of course, they kill the son thinking he’s the heir. And of course, this is a reference to Christ, and that God has sent his servants. He sent sent Christ, and what does he say? He says to the scribes and Pharisees, what do you think the owner is going to do? While he’s going to cast these people out and get new people to take care of his vineyard for him. And Jesus talked about the fact that the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. And the idea is that the leaders here of Israel, the religious leaders have rejected Christ. And he’s going to cast out the Jews. And there’s going to be a sense in which the Gentiles are going to come in. It’s interesting, you read at the end of that parable in chapter Matthew 21, as the Jews and the scribes and the Pharisees recognized, they had spoken the parable, he had spoken the parable about them. They got the point of the parable. So the vine here is used with reference here to the nation of Israel. So we’re not talking here about a worldwide judgment. Now notice the picture of a wine press. Certainly has been applied to Israel by Jeremiah the prophet. Hold your place here. But look at lamentations, if you would with me. Right after the book of Jeremiah, he has written, this lamentation, which had to do with the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the land in particular of Israel by the Babylonians, the suffering they underwent. But I want you to notice verse 15 of chapter 1. The Lord, notice who’s doing the treading. The Lord hath trodden underfoot all my mighty men in the midst of me. He hath called an assembly against me to me to crush my young men. The Lord hath troddened the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as in a wine press. So you can see where this kind of idea carries into the Book of Revelation. Now you’ll notice in chapter 14 of the book of Revelation that this judgment does not include the city. The wine press here that is spoken on. is without the city. It’s on the outside of the city according to verse 20 of Revelation 14. Now, if the vine here represents Israel, the city here, the only one it’s mentioned in this chapter, by the way, is Babylon, verse 8 of Revelation 14. We’re going to look at the identity of Babylon, because Babylon is going to be mentioned repeatedly throughout the book. But verse 8 is a prophecy of the fall of Babylon. It’s put in the past tense as if it’s already happened, but it actually is as certain as if it happened. Prophetic certainty to it. The description of Babylon’s actual fall will get to in chapter 18 of the book of Revelation. Now, I’m not going to get into it at the moment, but I’m just going to mention this quickly and briefly, and we’ll look at it later. Babylon here is Jerusalem. If Israel is the vine, if the treading of the wine, if the treading of the wine press is outside the city, the one thing that’s excluded is Jerusalem. Just as we saw, we’ll see in chapter 11 of the book of Revelation, the city of Jerusalem is called Sodom and Egypt. we also see that it’s known as Babylon. It’s identified in chapter 11 as the great city. And so when we look at verse 8 and we read here that Babylon is fallen, that is fallen that great city. The only great city that’s mentioned is the one it’s identified in chapter 11 and verse 8 as Jerusalem. And it makes perfect sense in the one. setting. Now, with that in mind, what we’re speaking here is the destruction of the whole land of Israel, except Jerusalem, the last remaining stronghold that will fall in 70 AD. So you’ll notice there is a limited area that is targeted by this judgment, the space of a third of a third.mpt. 1,600 furlongs, according to verse 20. Now, the distance of blood flow is, in the Roman terminology, 600 stadia, which is roughly the length of the land as a Roman province, a little less than 200 miles. The itinerarium of Antonarium of Antoine. Piacenza records Palestine’s length as 1,664 stadia. Just about exactly the round number. If you round it up, rounded off, it’s exactly what is mentioned here. The enormous flow of blood, but this is not a worldwide judgment, as the second coming will be. But as Josephus tells us. in his wars, the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter. And I think that’s the idea here. So here we have a coming on a cloud. Here we have a judgment, but it’s limited. It doesn’t even include the city. It’s outside the city. It doesn’t include that, but it seems to be limited, but it seems to be limited. and particularly it’s focused on the nation of Israel. Do you have any questions before I go? I’ve covered a lot of ground here on this, but I wanted to get that aspect taught. Any questions before we go on a little further? 1664. That’s I-T-E-N-E-R-A-R-U-M. That’s the name of the book. I-T-E-N-E-R-A-R-U-M. Tenor-R-R-U-M. and it records the Palestine’s Lent as that. In the book of Revelation, Christ’s coming with the clouds doesn’t seem to ever refer to the Second Coming of Christ. It refers to a judgment, in particular, on the nation of Israel. And so if you look at chapter 10 and you look at chapter 14, that seems to be the case. Now, with that in mind, we can go on. if you would go back to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 7, we’re going to get to that section that I was asked about. We need to look at the rest of the verse. But I’m trying to look at this carefully as we go through each section of the verse. Let’s look at this again. Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him. Now let me stop there. Christ’s crucifiers here are going to see him coming in judgment. They would experience. They would understand that this was the outpouring of the wrath of the lamb. And you remember that in the book of Revelation, there’s going to be a cry to hide us from the face of the lamb. They can’t bear his wrath as it is poured. upon them. But isn’t this what Jesus told us in the book of Matthew? Hold your place here. Look with me at Matthew, if you would. In chapter 26, I’ll begin reading with verse 59, but our focus is on 64 in particular. Matthew 26, beginning with verse 59. Now, the chief priest and elders and all the counsel sought false witness against Jesus to put him at death, but found none. Yet though many false witnesses came, yet found they none. At the last two false witnesses came, or at last came two false witnesses and said, this fellow said, I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days. And the high priest arose and said unto him, answers thou nothing? What is it which these witnesses these witnesses against thee. But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Son of God. Thou be the Christ, the son of God. Jesus said unto him, thou hast said, Nevertheless, I say unto you, hereafter shall ye see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Notice what he says here. He indicates to them that these individuals who are condemning him are going to see him coming on the clouds. There’s going to be a judgment coming. And they are going to be a judgment coming. And they are going to to witness it, and they will recognize he is sitting on the throne and bringing this judgment. They’re going to perceive it. They will discern this truth. In the destruction of their city, their temple, their land, they would understand that Christ now has ascended to the throne as Lord of heaven and earth. And they would connect Christ coming in judgment upon them as a consequence of their crucifixion of the Lord. Now Revelation 1-7 says they also which pierced him. Now think about this. We’re talking here about the actual generation which crucified him. You want to take this literally. You know, people talk about taking the book of Revelation literally, but they won’t take this literally. Who is it that actually? crucified? What generation crucified? Those are the ones who will see him coming. Remember what Jesus said in Matthew 1023. For verily I say to you, ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the son of man become. Matthew 2434. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. Now this makes sense because there are several places in the book of Revelation where God tells us that Christ Christ is going to come. Jesus actually says it. Behold, I come quickly. How do you explain the word quickly if it refers to the second coming and now almost 2,000 years have gone by? When Paul told Timothy that he intended to come shortly in 1st Timothy chapter 3 and verse 14, Timothy expected him to come soon, not 2,000 years later. The apostles made clear that the second coming of Jesus Christ was not going to occur quickly. Have you ever noticed this? Look with me at Second Thessalonians in chapter 2, verses 1 to 12. If I’m going too fast here, I’m not trying to cover ground, but if I’m going too fast to say, Jack, you’re going too fast, slow down, and I’ll slow down for you on this. I want to make sure that we see this clearly though. Now, in this particular passage of scripture, I want you to see what he says about his Christ’s second coming here. Now, we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto him. And let me just stop a moment. This particular idea seems to be drawn from 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, where we read about us not sorrowing those those, who have no hope. That Christ is going to come. And he’s going to, first of all, catch up those who are upon the earth who are living believers. Then he’s going to resurrect the dead believers and change their bodies and they’ll all be caught up to be with Christ and be forever with the Lord. And then we go into chapter 5 and there’s going to be a judgment on the wicked sudden destruction will fall upon them and we see the wicked destroyed, the righteous, preserved, and so forth. The problem was, some people thought, evidently, that the coming was going to be soon, quickly. And this gathering together to him was going to occur quickly. Now he said in chapter 1, and reiterated, that in flaming fire, Christ was going to come come and take vengeance on those who know not God and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ in verse 8. So we’re talking here about the physical personal, visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he says here that you be not soon shaken in mind, verse 2 of chapter 2, or be troubled neither by spirit nor word nor by letter as from us as that the day of Christ is at hand. And the word at hand here means now present or about to take place. Right? So he is saying here, I don’t want you to think it’s going to happen quickly. And then he goes on to explain how the man of sin is going to rise, how there’s going to be a great apostasy first. And then Christ will destroy the man of sin, and when he comes in the brightness of his coming. Look at verse 8 of this chapter. And then shall the wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy, with the brightness of his coming. So, what is he saying here? He’s saying, don’t think that the second coming is immediate. There’s going to be a great falling away first. Now, isn’t this just the opposite of him saying, Behold, I come quickly? In the book of Revelation. If you look at 2nd Peter chapter 3, what was the in verses 1 to 9, what does 2nd Peter chapter 3? we’re familiar with that. I think I can just mention it to you. People were saying the doubters, the scoffers, where is the promise of his coming? U.T. telling us Christ is going to visibly, personally, retired, and he hasn’t come. They doubt he’s coming. They scoff at it. Everything’s not changed at the beginning of the world. He says they conveniently forget about Noah’s flood and the judgment that occurred there. And the first judgment was by water, but when Christ comes, he’s going to going to come in fire, and the elements of this earth are going to burn up and so forth. So why hasn’t he come yet? Well, Peter says, you know, one day with the Lord is a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. But God is not willing to any of his people, if you read the text carefully, his beloved, perish, but all come to repentance. And that’s why he hasn’t come back yet. He’s still gathering in his elect. Right? And so there seems to be a delay. There may be a thousand years before Christ comes again. Right? According to Peter, so both of these texts, the scripture, that talk about the physical return of Christ, seem to indicate some type of length of time. Whereas in the book of Revelation, Christ says, I come quickly. And the generation that crucified me is going to recognize me upon the throne in bringing this judgment. You will see me coming on the cloud. Those who pierced him did not experience the second coming, but in 70 AD, they experienced a coming in judgment by our Lord Jesus Christ. So the friends, the seven churches need to comfort. They’re under persecution. They’re suffering tribulation. And so what Christ is telling them is, in short order, I’m going to bring judgment on this nation that is persecuting you and is an enemy of my kingdom on this earth. So Christ is coming within the lifetime of some of his contemporaries. Let me stop there. Any questions about this? Yes, Russ. I’m just wondering the very fact that Christ that he would be one of the calls him to see him he hadn’t told me beforehand but he told this is going to happen and then it happened and then it happened was like, oh, didn’t he say that it’s going to happen? It’s amazing how the light goes on after a while and they realize this is exactly what he said he was going to do. And he hadn’t told me before him. Peter told the Jews on the day of Pentecost, remember, he said he’s going to sit on his throne until he brings all his enemies under his feet. Right? And one of the enemies is National Israel. They’re apostate. And the leaders in particular have crucified the Lord, but the people themselves are guilty of it as he tells them in that passage because they cried out in unison unison with the leaders to crucify Christ. Now, the fourth thing I want to look at here, and we can finish this section then. We see Christ’s coming to specifically bring judgment upon the land of Israel. all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. That’s the last phrase of chapter 1, verse 7, Book of Revelation. Now Revelation frequently uses the word earth. It is the Greek word G. I think it’s used some 82 times in the book. This word can be translated two ways. It can mean the earth in the sense of the entire globe. It can also mean the land or a particular portion of the earth, like the land of Israel. Look with me at Isaiah Chapter 33 and verse 9. Here’s an interesting comment here. Isaiah 33 9. The earth mourneth and languisheth. Is it the whole earth? Is it all the globe? Or does he tell us what it is? Lebanon is a shame and ewn down. Sharon is like a wilderness. And Bashan, Bashan, and caramel shake off their fruits. What is the earth here? It’s the land. It’s the land of Israel. Is it not? You can look in scripture and you’ll see this occurring. You have to look at it carefully because sometimes you have to look at the context to see if it’s talking about the whole earth or it’s talking about particularly the land of Israel. Now, in the overwhelming majority of times, when we look at the word land in the book of Revelation, we’re going to find that it refers to the land of Israel. If you would, let’s look at Revelation 310. This is the Church of Philadelphia. He says, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also keep thee from the Irish. of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try then that dwell upon the earth. Now, you would think this would seem redundant, unless you understand that it’s going to come upon all the world to try then that dwell upon the land of Israel in particular. So the earth seems to be set against the world here. Look at chapter 11 of the book of Revelation. Versus 9 and 10. I don’t want to wear you looking all these verses up, but we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture because I think this is the best way to understand it and grasp it. So I’m not just telling you something here, and you’re going to, well, that’s what the pastor thinks. I want you to see that this is what the scripture also would indicate to us. Chapter 11, verses 9 and 10. And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half. So not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. This is the two witnesses that have been killed. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make Mary and shall send gifts one to another because these two prophets tormented them that dwell on the earth. Did these two prophets torment everybody in the whole world? Or did they torment those who dwell upon the land, meaning the land of Israel? If you look through this passage, this is, you know, talks about where Christ was crucified. The city is Jerusalem that’s being mentioned here. Look at chapter 14 of the book of Revelation and verse 6. We just read this earlier. We talked about the gospel, being preached under them that dwell on the earth or the land and to every nation and so forth. So it’s set against every nation there. Chapter 16 of the Book of Revelation and verse 14, here are the spirits that come out of the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet and the dragon. and we read here for they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth under the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Here we see it listed here a seeming contrast at least between earth and the whole world. and I’ll just mention these things to you. You can look at it for yourself. Some may see that verse a little differently, but either way, you see how in the book of Revelation the term can easily refer to Israel. You’ll notice in chapter 7 that we mentioned the 144,000, they have to be sealed before the winds are let loose on the left. land or the earth is it says there. Kindreds here are the tribes. When it says the kindreds, all the kindreds of the kindreds of the earth, we’re talking about all the tribes of the land of Israel. Normally the earth is divided in the nations. They shall wail because of it. This phrase is used two ways in scripture. It’s used in a sense of mourning that’s associated with. with repentance, and it would be the repentance of the elect. You find it in Zechariah 1210, the idea of mourning, but also wailing associated with the terror of the wicked, facing the wrath of God being poured out. We had quoted this verse before, but I’ll have have you look at chapter 6 of Revelation verses 16 and 17 said to the mountains and the rocks fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of his wrath is come and who is able to stand. Now, when Christ comes, sudden destruction falls upon the wicked. And I suggest to you the fact that there is whaling here, and I think the King James is right to put it as wail, rather than mourn, in a sense of repentance, because I think he’s talking about judgment here. And so, if this was the second coming, the question would be, there would be no time for them to be whaling. Because it’s a sudden, when Christ comes, it’s sudden destruction. There’s not time for this type of acknowledging, you know, seeing the idea of judgment being poured out over a period of time and suffering because of it. It’s going to be boom. It’s going to be quick and sudden. So, with that in mind, let me summarize. Revelation 1-7 provides us with the theme of the book. Christ’s coming does not always refer to the second coming. There are comings that are non-physic physical in nature. Temporal judgments are called comings of Christ. Coming with the clouds in the book of Revelation seems to have reference particularly to a limited judgment. Christ’s coming within the lifetime of his contemporaries is also noted those that have crucified him and pierced him and so forth. Christ declares He’s coming. quickly while the second coming is not at hand, but could be quite a distance off as God waits for the calling in of all as Elect. As 2 Peter 3 indicates. Christ’s coming to specifically bring judgment upon the land of Israel is the focus of this theme. And therefore, much of the Book of Revelation will be focused upon a great judgment upon apostate Israel. Now, if you miss this point, you can wonder all over the place in the interpretation of the book. No book of the Bible has suffered more from, I think, being taken out of its historical context than the book of Revelation. If you take it out of its historical context, you can make it mean almost anything you want. But if you grasp the theme of the book, as I try to show you from Scripture, you will have now a handle on how to interpret its contents. The focus is on national Israel. Yeah, there are going to be repercussions beyond it. And we’ll have mention of judgment on Rome and so forth as well. But that’s not the main focus of the book. And if we come to the book with that in mind, it will help us in our understanding. Any questions here on this section? I know we went through a lot of material. We went through quickly. You’ll forgive me if I’m going too quickly. If you’re going too quickly, just say, Jack, got to slow down. You’re going too quickly for me. Do we understand this theme? Is it clear enough to you? Any questions about what we covered today? All right. Why don’t we close with a word of prayer? And I’ll have Keith.