I want you to turn back in your
Bibles to Revelation 1, the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ,
chapter 1. I would encourage you to settle
in on this journey through the book of the revelation of Jesus
Christ, especially if this is a first time for you going through
the book of the revelation, and also for those of you who may
never have actually studied the book of the Revelation. I would
encourage you to really settle down and be ready for the several
studies that we will embark upon to obtain a basic understanding
of the framework of the book, the essential meaning of the
book, and then hopefully derive from the book of the Revelation
of Jesus Christ Precisely what it means for you and for me. I want you to put on your students
cap I want you to get your rest. I Want you to sleep long enough
so that you can pay attention focus You will not get it if
you don't focus It's not so much that the book of Revelation is
so profoundly difficult to comprehend it does however require an attitude
of interest at the highest level to put together those things
inherent in the book by which it begins to make sense to our
soul. It takes time. And so if you
are committed to the blessing of the book, that's what the
writer said in verse three, blessed is he that reads and they that
hear, this is in what we call a continuous verb form, Blessed
are they that continue to read and blessed are they that continue
to hear the words of the prophecy and keep those things that are
written therein because the time is at hand. So there's a blessing
in the reading and there's a blessing in the hearing of this book.
Have you discovered that? Well, that's true for the whole
Bible. You do know that, right? That the Bible is a blessing
and the book of Revelation is nothing more than the culmination
of the whole of human history articulated by God and given
to us by God through the mouth of holy men from Genesis to Revelation. As those of you who have been
under this teaching long enough know, the book of Genesis is
the seed. The book of Revelation is the
full bloom. Everything in between is the
stalk and the trunk and the tree, the full manifestation of God's
one linear objective, and that is the revelation of His glory
in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. So it's quite natural
that when we come to the end of God's depository of truth,
that the person we are going to be fixed on is Jesus Christ. This is why it's called the revelation
of Jesus Christ. The revelation, the unveiling,
the unpacking, the unfolding, the manifestation, if you will,
of that which was always there but hidden from men and made
known at the time that God has purposed to make it known to
us. And as we learned last week, or two weeks ago, that the book
of the revelation was given by God the Father to whom? God the
Son. That's verse 1. the revelation
of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him. And here is the purpose
or the objective for which God gave Jesus Christ the revelation
to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass.
And he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant,
John. That's why today's title is the
revelation of Jesus Christ, a gift to the what? a gift to the churches. It's first and foremost a gift
from the Father to the Son, but secondarily it is a gift from
the Son to the Church. The book of Revelation is given
to you and me who are true believers not to scare us or to petrify
us with a sense of imminent doom because of the holiness of God.
The book of Revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ is given to
the believer really, ladies and gentlemen, for our comfort, for
our assurance, for our edification, for our joy, for our hope, as
we will unpack at least in part today. So our studies in the
book of Revelation will benefit your soul if you maintain this
focus, and that is the centrality and emergence of Jesus Christ
the primary subject of our theological reflection he will appear in
the book of Revelation as the Son of Man as the Lamb of God
as the coming King and as the source of eternal life with the
Father and the Spirit in our final state I have just given
you a quadrant of views Christ will appear in the book as The
son of man, that's the first vision. We will see when we begin
to deal with the seven churches He will appear he will appear
in His sovereignty on the throne of His Father as that divine
Lamb of God ruling over all things from the 4th chapter all the
way to the 19th chapter. And in the 19th chapter, Jesus
Christ will appear vividly coming as a king on a white horse with
His elect to put an end to every hostile voice against Him and
against His God. And then He will finally manifest
Himself, Jesus Christ, to us Revelation 22 sitting on his
throne with his father and the Spirit of God in a state of Edenic
glory the source of eternal blessing for the people of God the ultimate
and quintessential rest to which we will enter into When we finally
meet our Savior face to face now, I want to encourage you
children of God to to be careful not to be distracted as you go
through the book of Revelation with us by side issues. It's really easy to do. Discipline
yourself to keep Jesus Christ as your plumb line. You know
what a plumb line is? It's a measuring tool designed
to make sure that as you build a house, you build it straight.
And as you begin to build an understanding of the purpose
of the book of Revelation, if you don't use Jesus Christ as
the plumb line, you will have a lopsided house. You will have
a distorted view. You will have disproportionate
emphasis in areas that should not be so emphasized. You will
actually have a very distorted, discombobulated comprehension
of the centrality and the coherence and the clarity of the book of
the revelation and you will go away frustrated because you will
have disobeyed the rules essential for putting the pieces together.
Are you hearing me? So we're gonna be students for
several weeks Yay, even a couple months as we go through the book
of Revelation The man or the woman that hangs in there will
have the privilege of having your soul nurtured your mind
Challenged your heart edified by Jesus Christ in high definition
Such a revelation ought to change your life it ought to give you
a greater confidence in your Savior and I'll give you a boldness
to tell men and women I've seen His glory. I see Him on His throne
high and lifted up. I see Him ruling over the universe.
I see Him vividly in control of all the affairs of life. It's
impossible for me not to know Christ reigns. That's what it
should do for you as we work our way. And I mean that for
even the little people. The young people you guys can
get this you guys can get this if you follow carefully prayerfully
you will get this This is not too difficult to understand in
its overall framework. And so I am going to take Another
week or two in preparing us for the seven churches study because
I think it's essential I think it's critically essential I believe
that in order for the study of the seven churches into which
we will be entering in a few weeks is To have significant
meaning, you and I will have to start with an overview of
the book, an observation, if you will, of the landscape and
the property surrounding this edifice or this house, which
is our primary site. Our primary objective is to go
into the house of chapters three and four and understand why the
Lord Jesus is going to speak to the seven churches so vividly
so personally about his will and purpose in their life. And
as we go through those seven churches, we will ask the question
every week, what is Christ saying to us at GBC in Hayward? Because that's the reason the
book is written. for him to speak directly to
us as individuals and as the body. And I do want to assure
you, once again, as I get ready to go through my points, the
book of Revelation is a sheer joy to study. It is a magnificent
treasure chest of all sorts of wonderful truth, truth which
have been spoken about before in other parts of the Bible.
There's nothing in the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ
that is new per se, that is not anchored to other passages in
the Bible. What we're speaking about now
is a kind of method of interpretation critical to enjoying the Bible.
You're not going to interpret the book of Revelation carefully
if you're not solid in your understanding of Old Testament history. Everything
in the book of Revelation is really an Old Testament paradigm,
model, motif, structure, framework carried over into the New Testament
as a kind of code. Therefore, you and I have to
know that there's a old-new connection critical to teaching us about
things that God would have us to know. So I want you to grow
over the next three months. In your study of the Word, grow
in your study of the Word. I want you to take the notes
that you have in your outline and what you're going to see
in the PowerPoint and begin to examine them over the course
of the week. Prior to every study that we engage in you're going
to learn a lot of things personally You're going to be affirmed in
a number of things and then for those of us who are called to
teach We will be once again further anchored into this mystery of
the revelation by which we could be more profitable Students and
teachers of the word of god since god tells us saints that this
book is a blessing to those that read it And those that hear it
And I want to be blessed. How about you? Point number one
in our outline, then as we pull up our PowerPoint, the book of
the Revelation of Jesus Christ, I contend, is a church-centered
prophecy. It's a church-centered prophecy
that the aim of the book of Revelation is not about national Israel.
The book of the Revelation is not about all of the fearful,
strange, and esoteric images about the Antichrist. The book
of the Revelation is not even about the painful, difficult
sufferings of the Tribulation period. The book of the revelation
of Jesus Christ is objectively given to the church of Jesus
Christ, the church of Jesus Christ, so that she might enter into
the joy of his sovereign reign. Christ is the subject, the church
is the object. And what do we mean by the church?
If you have your outline, you'll notice my first point is the
fallacy of a single denominational expression. Because I'm a very
prominent radio talk show host in our ministries on the air
and have been for a long time I get questions from all sorts
of people all the time diligent about Bible study earnest about
theology always engaged in eschatology and Eschatology in the book of
Revelation are not synonymous terms for those of you who know
that eschatology is a term that simply means the study of in
time things and The word the study of in time things is not
synonymous with the book of the revelation of Jesus Christ Even
though it deals with in time things the book of the revelation
of Jesus Christ is centrally about Christ and Can I tell you
something about Christ? He's not just the Omega. He's
the Alpha Did you get that so we believe him to be protology
as well as eschatology Soteriology in between Now that means something
Saints. In other words, we're not always
looking for what's gonna happen at the end We want to know what's
going on right now, correct? And so I need you to be careful
to understand that there has been an argument on the part
of premillennial dispensationalists that once you leave chapter three
and go to the end of chapter four, where John is caught up
into heaven, that the word church is never used again. And they
use that as a premise for arguing that from Revelation chapter
four on, the whole thing is about national Israel. I would argue
against that weak and fallacious supposition. First and foremost,
don't buy into a notion that anything in the scripture is
to be comprehended purely on a one denominational term, like
the word church. That would be a very, what I
would call, infantile way to interpret scripture. It would
be like saying simply because the word Jehovah or the word
L-O-M is not in the book of Esther, then therefore the book of Esther
is not divine in nature, nor the handprint of God is in it.
But if you've ever read the book of Esther, one thing you know,
God is all in that book. I remember how the Hebrew people
used to do it in tradition when they made the fallacious mistake
of asserting or assuming that the book of Esther was not divinely
authored. They would take the book of Esther
and they would throw it down on the ground during the Feast
of Purim and they would symbolically acknowledge the major mistake
that they made when they asserted or assumed or took the position
that the book of Esther was not divinely established. See, when
you say that, you are basically throwing the Word of God on the
ground. And then the Hebrew people would pick the book up and say,
thank you, Lord, for repentance. Thank you. We receive this book
as from the hand of God, even though we don't see Jehovah Elohim
or Adonai in the book. They recognize God was the author
of the book. Hence I say that when we deal
with the book of the Revelation, you see the church in the book
of Revelation from chapter 1 all the way through chapter 22. The
church is said to be the bride of Christ. Is she not? That's
Ephesians 5, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Revelation chapter 21. Is
she not called a virgin? 2 Corinthians chapter 11, Psalm
45, and then Revelation chapter 14. Is not the church the witness,
the vehicle of witness in the world? That's Revelation 11,
Acts chapter 1, and so many other places where we are called His
witnesses. Is not the church then the prophet,
the mouthpiece of the living God, where her servants proclaim
the truth of the gospel? Are we not the prophetic voice
of God in the world? If we're not, who is? How is
God going to speak through vocal cords to humanity if he doesn't
do it through the church? And so Revelation chapter 11
talks about his prophets receiving rewards because they have been
persecuted for the truth for which they proclaimed and they
were killed and raised again from the dead. You know that
great ethic in Revelation 11. Is the church the candlestick?
Are we the light of the world? Is every local faithful, Bible-based,
sound, gospel-centered church the candlestick of God? And indeed
it is. Are we not the elders, the 24
elders of Revelation chapter 4, 5, 16, 20 and the book of
Ezekiel? Indeed we are. 12 in the old,
12 in the new. That's the 24 elders. We were
told that in Hebrews chapter 11. The elders received a good
report. Every true believer is an elder.
Are we not then the new Jerusalem according to Revelation 21? Is
not our mother named Sarah? Are we not children of Sarah?
Is not the Jerusalem we are a part of above the mother of us all? Are we not saints of the living
God? That's the way Paul opened it up all the way through the
book of the New Testament. To the saints in Christ at Corinth. To the saints in Christ at Ephesus. to the saints in Christ in Hayward. Are we not the seed of God's
elect? Are we not his seed? Are we not
the seed of the elect of Christ? If we are in Christ, we are God's
seed, are we not? Are we not the remnant of which
the devil is pursuing the church of the living God, trying to
destroy her with his flood of ungodliness? Revelation chapter
12 and 13 I could go on and on Demonstrating that the church
of the Living God is the central object in that book after Christ
Which it's written in order for Christ to tell his beautiful
lovely glorious bride of whom he loves I know where you are. I know what you're going through.
I'm going through it with you. Here, I want to show you how
this thing works out so you can take comfort every day of your
life that I am fully and totally in control of everything. This
is a love letter from me to you. This is a love letter to affirm
to you what I told you 70 years ago. For us, 2,000 years ago. Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. I will never leave you. I will
never forsake you. That's what the book of Revelation
is about. And it's church-centered. Now, if it wasn't, we wouldn't
even be able to enjoy the book. I have to be honest with you.
I've never been to Israel. And if the Lord come, I won't
have went to Israel, but I don't believe that there's a holy place
on planet Earth outside of Christ. In other words, the ground I'm
standing on right now is just as holy as Palestine. I don't need to catch a plane
to Palestine to go to the holy land. This is the holy land. I'm on the holy land. Whenever
you're in the presence of God, Coram Deo, this is holy ground. Do you believe that? Come take a trip to the Holy
Land. I'm already in the Holy Land.
If any man be in Christ Jesus, he's as holy as he or she or
they could be. It's a church-centered prophecy.
Church-centered prophecy. And the way the book closes in
Revelation 21 verse 1 and 8, you know what it says? I see
the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Watch this. Having
the glory of God. You know what that means? We
made it! We made it! Over 2,000 years, the Master
has washed us, cleaned us, purged us, removed every spot, every
blemish, and now we come down with Him in celestial glory to
be seated in a new heavens and a new earth. We make it. That's
what the book teaches. Y'all with me now? We make it.
And so I want to move you on to the second point. It's very
critical. There are four major visions. the book of the Revelation. The
Revelation is a full vision itself, but there are four singular visions
that we constitute major visions by which if you grasp those visions,
they will help you again understand the structure. The first is Jesus
Christ in his church. That's going to be the primary
vision of which you and I exercise our senses around his instruction
to the seven churches. Will you look with me at chapter
1 verse 12 and 13. Are you there? I'll be preaching
on this next week. And I turned, that's John, the
revelator, or the one who received the revelation by which it's
given to us. And I turned to see the voice that spake with
me. Do you see that? And being turned,
I saw seven golden candlesticks. What's the first thing that John
sees in the vision? The church. And in the midst
of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man. There he is. And here's the message
of this vision. The church and Christ cannot
be separated. You cannot separate the head
from the body. You cannot separate the church
from Christ. The first initiatory vision of
the book of Revelation given to John to give to us is a vision
of the church with Christ smack dab in the middle. Do you see
that? Does that not serve as a great
comfort for people who are going through trouble? Because sometimes
in your churches and in your denominations, I promise you,
you look around, and by the way, church folk act, Jesus ain't
been there for a long time. That's true. And then when the
church is assaulted from outside by the enemy, you wonder, is
Christ there at all? Persecution has a way of making
you ask the question, Lord, where are you? And how long, O Lord? And our master has written a
letter to let them know as long as the church exists, Christ
is there in his church. But as we will see, This vision
of Christ in the church constitutes two essential disciplines or
instructions. The first is he's there to give
us assurance. Do you see that? He's there to
give us assurance. The second purpose for the vision
given to John to give to us is he's there to make us aware of
our accountability. See it? See the word assurance? That's his presence. See the
word accountability? That means he's Lord. Now, you
know, you know how we act a fool when the landlord is not around.
And we hope he don't never, ever come around. Because we tearing
up his house, destroying his property. And we hope he gives
us a warning before he shows up so we can kind of straighten
things up, right? The landlord. Stay with me now.
See, some of y'all getting it, right? Some of you getting it,
right? I said, can I make it plain? Because see, religious
folk will act like, I didn't understand anything the pastor
was saying. Christ is the landlord of the church. And if you lose
your mind and think you can act any way you want to in his house,
as if he's not there, you have had no revelation of his glory. Your behavior towards God is
really based on how much you comprehend of the presence of
Christ. and how much you honor his person.
You know how the landlord makes you feel comfortable when he
shows up at a time when you think not? That was good. That was good. Or if the neighbors
hint, you know, I saw your landlord. He said he'd be here in a minute.
You go to straighten it up. That's what you're supposed to
do. That's why the book is given to straighten up. We'll see that
when we get into it. But the second vision is given
to us. Let me read verse 13. No, I did. The second vision
is given to us in Revelation 5, 1 concerning Christ on His
throne ruling with His Father over all things. Revelation 5,
verse 1. Are you there? And I saw in the
right hand of Him that sat on the throne. The Him that's sitting
on the throne is God who? The Father. and a book written
within and on the backside sealed with seven seals. This here is
a title deed to the universe. I've taught you this long ago.
The Father is always depicted as sitting on his throne. The
Father never moves. The Father always rules in omnipotent
glory and dominion over everything. Are you guys hearing me? The
Father always is viewed as seated on His throne. His vicar, His
apostle, His regent by which He does His will in the world
is Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. But the Father is always
seated. He is always seated. Nothing
in the universe moves the Father off His throne. Are you hearing
me? Never. And so the Father sits there
with the full title deed as Jesus said to the disciples over and
over again. I taught you this years ago.
He was the one, the Son was the one that revealed to us the Father.
No man comprehended the fatherhood of God until Christ came along
and said, God the Father, God the Father, I came to do my Father's
will. This is the will of Him that
sent me and His work I will finish. And when the disciples were curiously
peering into things that were not their business, remember
what He said? Those things are in my Father's hands. Those things
are not for you to know. They're in my father's hand.
His subjugation to his father as his son operating in co-regency
is what you're about to see here. Watch it over in verse 6. And
behold, lo, in the midst of the what? Throne represents sovereignty. That's what a throne means. See,
our God is sovereign. You believe that? There's a lot
of peon gods being preached, proclaimed, and depicted today.
God's that can't do much unless you let him. That's what we have
going on today. But see, the reason why this
present generation preaches this kind of Jesus and this kind of
God and this kind of Holy Ghost, the kind that really labors with
men and ask men and get thwarted by men is because we're not used
to monarchs. But God's a monarch. He's a sovereign
monarch. And I've said this before. You
can't preach, teach or tell anybody about God until you have had
a revelation of his true nature as king on his throne. There's no prophet in the word
of God who has ever seen God's glory, who did not see God on
his throne. They all saw a throne in heaven. It was that throne that taught
them that God is king of kings and Lord of lords. He rules over
every monarch in the universe, high and low. He sets them up.
He takes them down. He places them saved and unsaved. God is the great king over all
the earth. Unless you teach like that, you
are not depicting God in the right way. Now, this democratic
culture in which we live in this hyper, again, narcissistic, very
self-centered, autonomous culture would depict God as kind of a
salesman. Am I telling the truth? Trying
to sell you salvation. Would you please accept Jesus
into your life? Monarchs don't talk like that.
You know what monarchs do? They decree, decree, decree obedience. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved. If you do not believe, you will
be damned. Now that sounds like a monarch
to me. I beheld and lo in the midst of the throne and of the
four beasts and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as
he had been slain. This is his post atoning work,
having seven horns, seven eyes which are the seven spirits of
God sent forth unto all the earth. Please don't get wrapped up in
that. Look at verse 7. Look at it.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him
that sat on the throne. You know what that means? He
exercises in the midst of the throne, co-regency with his father,
and he's the one now who has control over the universe. Do
you guys see that? The Lamb of God who said in Matthew
28, all power, all authority, all dominion has been given unto
me in heaven and in earth. Therefore, go ye into all the
world and preach the gospel. This here is the heavenly text
affirming that. The lamb that was slain, the
atonement. He's in heaven now in the midst of the throne. That's
his authority. He now has the title deed to
the universe. The Holy Ghost is right there.
Therefore, go ye into all the world. He is the highest authority
in the universe. You're not begging people to
come to him, believe on him, receive him, accept him. He's
a sovereign. So what you see in our text is
really a co-regency of rule with the Father and the Son and the
Holy Ghost right there and the fullness of their perfection.
I'll talk about that when we get to our third and fourth points.
We call it co-regency. But look in Revelation chapter
321. Revelation 321. This is one of
the seven churches that we will be addressing. Here's what he
says in Revelation 321. Are you there? To him that overcometh,
that means believing the gospel, Dying for Christ in faith as
we read in Hebrews 11 they live by faith and they died how in
faith All these died in faith to him that overcomes will I
grant to sit with me? glorious in my throne Did you
get that in my throne? That's what you saw in chapter
5. I There's a co-regency between the Father and the Son so that
there's an equality of authority as it were given to the Son to
exercise dominion over all things to the church. That's how Paul
puts it in the book of Colossians. Those who overcome will get to
sit with me. Now I'm already told that I'm
seated there. I possess an authority, a derived authority, an imputed
authority because I'm seated in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus right now. Do you know what we call that?
We call that the true magisterium. You missed that. The 24 elders are seated in authority
around the throne with the Father and the Son in that regal authority
over the universe. You know how that fake church
talks about a magisterium? We have a true one. You know
what it's called? The true church of the living
God seated with Christ in heavenly places with God the Father and
God the Holy Ghost ruling over all things. Do you see that vision? Do you see it? I'm sorry if you
don't. The second vision is the vision
of the rule of Christ over all things. And the objective, according
to our PowerPoint, is comfort. Aren't you comforted when you
know he's in control of everything? The third vision is in Revelation
chapter 19, verse 11, where it depicts Christ as coming. Revelation chapter 19 now brethren
those of you who are studying with us on Saturdays in the book
of Judges You're gonna get a hint here. Okay as to the connection
between Ehud and Christ in Revelation chapter 19 Listen to what it
says here over in verse 11. This is John Quoting and writing
what he saw and I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse. I Now, what is a horse in the
scripture? It is a symbol of battle and
warfare. When a man was on his horse,
it fundamentally meant that he was going to war. Are you hearing
me? I'm going to make that plain
in a little bit. I saw heaven open and I saw one who was on
a white horse. Notice what it says, and he was
called what? Faithful and true. John has already told us who
this was three times from Revelation chapter 2 all the way through.
Who is the only faithful one in the world? Who is the only
true one in the world? This is why he says, I am the
way, the truth, and the life. He is the only faithful one. And his faithfulness is imputed
to me, which makes me faithful too. But be sure of it. Make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen,
verse 11 is describing the triumphant, exalted Savior, Jesus Christ,
as a king, as a monarch on his white horse. Watch this. And
in righteousness, he doth what? Judge. Are we in the book of
Judges, brethren? And make what? Yeah. Yeah. I know this is not politically
correct speech. But Jehovah is a man of war.
Yes, he is. He's a man of war. And he has
called his people to the warfare. I know you don't like it, but
our ladies learned this on Thursday. It's a warfare. It's a battle.
We are waging war against the enemies of the Lord. The battle
is spiritual in nature. The principalities and powers
that we are engaged against have to do with demonic forces, blinding
the minds and hearts of men and women over against the glory
of God. Is that true? We have to fight that battle.
If you don't, you lose. You lose the souls of men, the
souls of your sons, the souls of your daughter, the souls of
your husband, the souls of your wife. Listen, when God calls
you, he calls you into his army. Now watch this. But before he
calls you into his army, he himself fights the battle for you first.
Is that true? The only reason I'm in this army
is because he went ahead of me and he fought a battle that I
couldn't fight. He won a war that I couldn't
even begin to overcome and because he won it You know what the Bible
depicts him all through the book of Revelation as wearing white
See white is one of the symbolic colors. We'll be talking about
all through the book of Revelation There are color codes as well
where you see the believer in white in the book of Revelation
It means they have already triumphed over sin already triumphed over
death already triumphed in the war Are you hearing me? And so
our master is depicted as one riding on a horse, one judging,
and he's making war, all of it in righteousness. Look at verse
12. His eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were
many what? And he had names written that
no man knew but himself. And he was clothed with a vesture
dipped in blood. And his name is called what?
The word of God. Glorious, glorious, glorious,
glorious. I love it. I love it. Our master
is depicted in this Array this this full array of armory making
war Against his foes verse 16 and he hath on his vesture and
on his thigh a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords See,
now that's comforting to the church of the living God. Now,
what is he coming to do? Vindicate his name, vindicate
his father's glory, vindicate his church. Because the book
of Revelation is depicting the church. This is what makes us
so detached from the church. You and I live in comfort. You
and I live in ease. You and I live in pleasure. You
and I live in folly. We live in sin. Our present condition
is not really that which depicts the true church. So that's why
there's a disconnect between us at this present time and what
the book of Revelation is really depicting. The book of Revelation
is depicting a suffering church because of her faithfulness to
the gospel. You and I are wayward. You and I are laden down. See,
that's why the seven churches study is going to be important
for us. Because what our Master is doing with that first vision
is telling the churches in Asia Minor, listen, you've got a mission
to perform and you cannot perform it while you are distracted,
while you are heavy laden, while you are overweight, while you
are out of shape, while your head is on backwards, while you
are strapped down by all the issues of life. You cannot fight
this battle this way. That's right. That's why people
don't read the book of Revelation. Because they're on a vacation
in Jesus' name. That's why you don't read it.
Because you're AWOL. I'm just telling the truth. Am
I telling the truth? The church is AWOL. AWOL. The book just has no resonating
factor with you because, you know, you're sitting on a cot
somewhere, the air blowing through your toes. drinking pina coladas
and somebody fanning you. It just don't make it makes no
sense to you. Makes no sense to you. But he's coming for the
church militant. The next vision we see in Revelation
chapter 22 verse one is the father, the son and the Holy Ghost as
the quintessential pinnacle and source eternal blessing felicitude
and satisfaction and exaltation and he showed me there it is
a revelation again he showed me verse 1 a pure river of water
of life do you see that see this pure river of water of life is
a symbol of the perfections of the Holy Ghost whose ministry
it is to purge and cleanse and bring to life, nurture, and develop
everything it touches. Crystal clear proceeding out
of the what? Throne of God. There's a throne
of God again. And of the what? Here we have a Trinitarian symbol
of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Is that true?
The pure river of waters represents the Spirit of God. The throne
speaks to the Father's rule. And the Lamb, there He is, the
atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ by which you and I are brought
back into that Edenic state. That's the last point in your
second point of your outline. The Edenic glory to which you
and I shall be returned again. And it's quite interesting, you
can read it for yourself. Genesis chapter 2 verses 8 through
10 when God made that first garden garden, which was typical of
the last garden What was running through that first garden a river
in four directions? to water the garden that it might
be a garden of vegetation and fruitfulness and productivity,
representing God's blessings to his son, Adam, who was a type
of the last Adam, and his daughter, Eve, who is a type of the church
of the living God. So that Genesis account points
to the Revelation account, letting us know that God knows from the
beginning all his works. And just as he purposed it to
be, it will be. Do you guys see that? So we have
now a synopsis and framework of the book as a whole. Let's
go now to our third point. I need you to bear with me now.
You got to put your thinking cap on. This is a little challenging
here. The third point is the symbolism and Old Testament motif
and terminology in the book of Revelation is a code. If you
start reading Revelation without this set of premises, and presuppositions,
you will wonder what on earth are you seeing? And you will
have no referent point by which to anchor what you're seeing
and gain a clear understanding. You'll wonder why you are observing
all these strange images, strange visions, strange pictures. And
you will say, the book was not meant to be understood. And you
would be wrong. The book is meant to be understood
precisely because of these images. Precisely because of these images
Proverbs chapter 25 verse 14 don't go there. I think it's
Proverbs 25 14 The secret of the Lord is with them that fear
him and he will show them his covenant you know what that means
you take your time and learn how to take the images and find
their original referent and that will give you an understanding
of what God is saying in the symbolism because symbolism is
what we call an economy of words and A picture is worth a thousand
words. I can say to you in a picture
or an image more than I could in a thousand literal words.
Are you hearing what I'm saying? So those of you who like TV,
we on TV right now. You know how y'all like spending
your time watching the big screen? We're on the big screen right
now. Only in this big screen, without a proper lens, a proper
grid, you will not understand what's taking place. First observation
is compounded symbolism. Compounded similar symbolism
are images or icons that convey to us a certain message, right?
And so we have symbolism all through the book of Revelation
and then those symbols are what are called compounded symbols
like the compounding of the symbols in the book of Revelation are
largely compounded by the number seven like the candlestick in
the opening chapter and has seven candlesticks on it, right? The
number seven. And some grammarians would argue
that there are literally seven sets of menorahs. Well, I can
work with that because I understand in the book of Revelation, we
are dealing with compounded imagery. You know how, like when you dream?
In your dreams, sometimes you will disproportionately enlarge
things. I had a wild dream last night
like that. I'm not going to tell you about
it, but it was wild. And when I woke up, I said, why
on earth did I dream that? And I think it has something
to do with my studies in the book of Revelation. Because sometimes
you will blow things up. And God blows them up intentionally. He multiplies them by 7 frequently. In your Bible there will be 7
golden candlesticks. In your Bible there will be 7
heads. In your Bible there will be 7
crowns. In your Bible there will be 7 stars. In your Bible there
will be 7 vials, 7 lamps, 7 trumpets, 7 angels, 7 mountains, 7 horns,
on and on and on. You'll see the number 7 multiplying
the image. Are you guys hearing me? Now
the number seven two in the scriptures is a term that refers to god's
perfection or completion The number seven runs. That's why
we are dealing with seven churches in the book of revelation chapter
two and three now mark this In asia minor as we're going to
see when we study there were far more than seven churches
But god wrote to the seven churches as a model of all the churches. Are you hearing me? And so you
will have this sort of break with what we would call a normal
sense of the image because the image now will be magnified or
compounded by multiple numbers. For instance, men have struggled
over why we can read in Revelation chapter 5 verse 6 again where
we were here just a moment ago. Why it is that it says in Revelation
chapter 5 verse 6 that there were seven spirits before the
throne of God look at it and I beheld in low in the midst
of the throne of the four beasts and In the midst of the elders
stood a lamb right as it had been slain now marked as having
seven horns. Do you see it? Now the word horns
in the scriptures always denotes power the horn of my strength
now market a lamb with horns and But he has not just two horns,
he has how many horns? See, so now what we're doing
is we are compounding imagery, aren't we? We're generally used
to two horns, right? Because that's the normal earthly
referent. But what God has given us is
seven horns to teach us that he has full authority, perfect
authority, complete authority over everything. And the next
thing you read is, and then he says, which are the seven spirits
of God sent forth, where? and to all the earth. The Spirit
of God is not seven. The Spirit of God is one. We
read that in the book of Ephesians. There's one Lord, there's one
faith, there's one baptism, there's one spirit. See, and so some
ignorant people would say that we have a contradiction in the
scriptures, right? Over here in Ephesians, Paul said this.
Over there in Revelation, John said that. See, you got contradictions
in your Bible. No, the contradiction's not in
the Bible. It's between your ears. I've
been saying that for years. You are quickly and precipitously
assuming that the text in Ephesians, which is literal, is also referring
to a literal application in Revelation chapter 5. But nothing could
be further from the truth. The book of Revelation is apocalyptic. We are dealing with laws of interpretation
that are different. Is that true? We know there's
one spirit, but he's viewed in Revelation 5, 6 being in the
perfection, listen now, the perfection of his evangelical task to go
into all the earth under the authority of the Lamb who received
his authority from the Father to save his elect from every
nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue. You got it, didn't you sis? The
seven spirits which are sent in all the earth. He sent the
third person in order to save His people from their sin out
of every nation, out of every kindred, out of every tribe,
out of every tongue. The number seven means the perfection of
the work of the Spirit of God and the redemption of His people
from everywhere. Remember, we're talking about
economy of terms. You guys got that? So we see
the triune God in verse six operating according to the triumph of Christ
in His atoning work, sending the Holy Ghost to hunt down His
saints, right? Listen, that text is going to lead you to worship
And the saints are gonna say to him who sits on his throne
and to the lamb, you have redeemed us out of every nation, kindred,
tribe and tongue. And we are your people and the
whole earth will glorify you. We're dealing with compounded
imagery, compounded imagery. That compounded imagery is designed
to teach us that God is magnifying it because he sees the end of
it. The next thing we see is what we call merging metaphors.
Merging metaphors revelation chapter 13 1 and 2 revelation
13 1 2 I'm gonna deal with this here for a minute so you can
understand it now metaphors are again images or likenesses comparing
something to something else, but actually they don't have
any Relationship we would use the term ontological relationship
for instance. Jesus said I am the door and
By me, if any man enter in, he will find pastor. He will find
life. He'll go in and out and be saved,
right? So Jesus is like a what? Are y'all with me? Jesus is like
a what? That's right, you need to get
that. And so, but he is not a physical door. He is like a door in that
the door symbolizes access, entrance into and shutting out of. Like when the door is shut, you
can't go in. And when the door is open, that
means you're given permission. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So he could say, I am like seven doors or 10 doors or 20 doors. He's only like one door in that
text. But we read in Revelation chapter 13, what I am now talking
about is compounded, our emerging metaphors. I stood upon the sand
of the sea and I saw a beast rise up out of the sea. This
is not Godzilla. I'm sorry, I gotta wake people
up cuz see this kind of study right here that people have to
labor To stay with you on this and it's this is basic theology.
This is not even deep I'm I'm not dealing with anything but
the superficial element here, but people have to labor to stay
here See, this is what I meant. You have to be interested in
what God is interested in to hear his voice. I Revelation
13 what and I stood upon the sand of the sea that is a prophetic
disposition on the part of all seers Daniel stood on the set
of on the seashore Ezekiel stood on the seashore Now John is standing
on the seashore because the seashore is the place from which the prophet
sees the will of God Emerging among the nations coming up out
of the water the seas being a symbol of the nations. Are you guys
hearing me? I stood upon the sand of the sea as the seer and
I saw what did I see? I saw a beast rise up out of
the sea Having upon his horns having I'm sorry having seven
heads and ten horns and upon his horns Ten crowns that there
is your compounding imagery again, right? Seven heads ten horns
and upon his ten horns ten crown now you really get messed up
in your head, aren't you? Now see there, I'm trying to show
you how intentionally the book of Revelation is designed to
destroy your normative categories and reference point when you
paint pictures. You don't get to paint a normal picture as
you would when you are awake. You are dealing with imagery
and God is teaching us something within the complexity and intricacies
of those images. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
So in your mind, you might envision a beast. you might envision seven
heads and you may envision ten horns on the seven head I'd love
to see what other three horns are hanging off at and upon his horns ten crowns
you got you got seven heads and ten horns and you got his horns
with ten crowns and upon his head the name blasphemy man that's
a mess isn't it So you have a compounding and merging of metaphors of which
the only way to understand the message in the image is to do
your work. You can sit here and say, oh,
I know what this means. But God never says anything that
doesn't have meaning. You have to be disciplined to
go do the work. I could take you back to Daniel.
I could take you back to Ezekiel. I could take you back to Zachariah.
And we can unravel this imagery and put them in their structured
category. And we will learn that this speaks
to the maniacal rule of Satan over the nations of the world
and their attempt to destroy God's glory and usurp his throne
and especially destroy the saints of the living God. Ezekiel says
it. Daniel says it. Zachariah says
it. Do you guys hear what I'm saying?
Now listen to what he goes on to say in verse 2. And the beast
which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like the feet
of a bear, and his mouth was like the mouth of a lion, and
the dragon gave him his power. You have now the conflation of
metaphors or images of four kingdoms in one. As you understand the
Daniel prophecy of Daniel 7, 1 through 7, the lion stands
by himself, the leopard stands by himself, the bear stands by
himself, and this grotesque thing that's unnamed stands by himself.
Now they are merged together, aren't they? And what that teaches
us is that those subsequent kingdoms that had rule over Israel from
Babylonia, Medo-Persia, the Grecian kingdom, and then finally the
Roman Empire are now all wrapped up in one. political entity Assaulting
the church which is where you and I are right now in the 21st
century. See there's nothing new under
the Sun I don't want to get sidetracked but what our masters plainly
telling us is the powers and principalities and Dominions
and heavenly places operate according to the same strategy they put
on new suits, but it's the same man behind the whole thing He's
called the man of sin And he rules the political, religio
systems of this world to assault the true and the living God.
Are you guys following me? So I'm helping you, right? Am I
helping you? Good. It's very important for you to
get this and listen to it 10 times and it'll start to come
a little bit. And so we have here what we call
merging metaphors. They are Daniel in nature, Ezekiel
in nature, and Zachariah in nature. Daniel saw the same thing Ezekiel
saw the same thing go with me in your Bible to Ezekiel 126
before we go to the other Points. I want to just quickly show you
how Ezekiel was sitting on the seashore as well at the River
Kibar when he obtained his vision of some of the same things that
you and I are here contemplating What that means as I speak to
you, children of God, is what I had said earlier, that the
book of Revelation is not a brand new body of information. It's simply an enhanced Focused
body of information bringing together all the testimonies
of the major Apocalyptic prophets into one prophet and that's John
to help us understand what we have taught all along That Jesus
is the message of this book That it's about him Listen to what
we read in Ezekiel chapter 1 Ezekiel saw some stuff Saints He saw
some stuff and I want you to see a beautiful truth here in
Ezekiel chapter 1. Are you there? I As he deals
with that wheel in the middle of the wheel, you know how our
religious folk used to love to sing about the wheel in the middle
of the wheel. Remember that? I never did hear
them interpret that thing right, but they sang about it. They
sure sung about it. The wheel in the middle of the
wheel, Ezekiel's wheel in the middle of the wheel. Will you
tell me what that wheel is in the middle of the wheel? No,
I can't tell you what that wheel is in the middle of the way,
but I can show saying about that wheel in the middle of the wheel.
And maybe one day I'll help you understand that the wheel in
the middle of the wheel is no different than what Jesus has
been teaching all along. I come to do my father's will. It's written of me, oh God. He
is the wheel in the middle of the wheel by which everything
in the universe is governed and brought to full culmination.
It's simple. If you got your eyes on Christ,
Christ is the plumb line. I'm going to show him to you
right here. Ezekiel is marveling. He's marveling
at the images. The images are blowing Ezekiel
away. And so Ezekiel is hearing things and seeing things in his
vision. And we read over in verse 25. Watch this. And there was
a voice from the firmament. that was over their heads. Now
he's describing the wheel in the middle of the wheel, which
are described as cherubim, and they were exalted wheels, of
which wheels they heard the voice of the Almighty in verse 24.
And there was a voice from the firmament that was over their
head. In other words, they didn't have absolute and total rule. Something ruled over them, all
right? Now watch this. This is the imagery. And over
their head, and when they stood, and had let down their wings,
this is the cherubim, Verse 26, and above the firmament, that's
the sky, that was over their head, watch this, was the likeness
of a what? Did Ezekiel see the throne? Did
he see the same throne John saw? Did he see the same throne Daniel
saw? Did he see the same throne that Isaiah saw? He saw the same
throne that Elijah saw. He saw the same throne that Joseph
Jacob saw see every prophet sees the throne of a sovereign God
That's the only way you can speak to a rebel world When you get
your decree from God, you have to do what Peter and John says
we better we better obey God and not man I know you want us
to not speak in his name But the highest authority in the
universe gave me my decree and I must tell you what he said
and suffer the consequences At your hand are his Isn't that
right? It's what the church was called
to. It was called to stand between
God and the world and to tell the world you're lost. You're
under the wrath of God. And Jesus said, do not fear them
that can kill the body. Fear him that can kill both body
and soul in hell. So listen, I'm going to fear
God and tell you the truth. You can kill me, but listen,
the God I serve can raise me from the dead. Now follow this
now, listen to what he says. And there was a voice from the
firmament that was over their heads. And they stood and they
let down their wings. That means they rested. And above
the firmament that was over their head was the likeness of a throne
as the appearance of sapphire stone. That's Revelation 4, 5,
Revelation 21. Now watch this, watch this. And
upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness of the appearance
of a man. Who was that man? That's right. That's the pre-incarnate Christ.
The pre-incarnate son of the living God. Here he is on his
throne speaking to his servant Ezekiel. Did Ezekiel see Christ? Daniel saw Christ, Elijah saw
Christ, Isaiah saw Christ, and I see Christ. Do you see Christ?
Glorious, glorious, glorious. Now watch this. And I saw as
the color of the amber and the appearance of fire round about
it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the
appearance of his loins even downward, I saw, as it were,
the appearance of fire. And it had brightness round about
it. You know what Ezekiel was saying?
The whole of the vision is encompassed by a glory that is depicted by
a burning fire. Is God a consuming fire? Yes,
He is. Listen to it and as the appearance
of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of the rain What bow
we are talking about we're talking about Noah's bow Which means
God is a covenant keeping God is he not did I tell you God
never operates out of covenant? He remembers his mercies to his
people The revelation of the rainbow you see that again in
the book of Revelation to listen to it So was the appearance of
the brightness round about this Ezekiel says was the appearance
of of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. You know what Ezekiel
just said he saw? He saw Christ. Is not Christ
the glory of God? Is not Christ the revelation
of the invisible God? Is not the whole of the revelation
centrally about Christ? Ezekiel says, I have beheld His
glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father. full
of grace and truth. Listen, this was the appearance
of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah. And when I saw it,
I fell upon my face and I heard a voice that was speak with me.
See, that's the only way God will talk to you. Let's go back. I keep telling this religious
generation. When you meet God, you go down. You don't go to
run it. You don't go to jumping and shouting.
Not when you meet the true and the living God. If God ever reveals
his glory in you, you go down. Listen, you're not going to tell
me you're going to go up and around and do back flips and
hop and jump and clown in the church. When Elijah went down,
and when Daniel went down, and when Isaiah went down, and when
Jeremiah went down, and when John went down, and when Paul
went down, you're going down. Because the high and lofty God
that sits on the circuits of the universe, that fills heaven
and earth, He dwells only with the broken and the contrite and
the humble in spirit. See, so when you go to clowning
under the Word of God, I know you have not heard God's Word. It's not possible. It's not possible. It's not possible for the voice
that spake with me, which we'll learn next week, for you to just
stand on your feet and just talk to him like you are fellows with
God. It's not possible. It's not possible. And so we go on in our contemplation
of the symbolism in Old Testament motif terminology, which is a
code in the book of the revelation. And the next thing I want to
call your attention to is what becomes a little bit difficult
under what we call the trumpet judgments. grotesque imagery. Revelation chapter 9. Revelation
9. Revelation 9. Am I boring you?
I'll stop right now. I'll stop right now. I promise
you I don't want to talk to no one that's not interested in
what I'm saying right now. Listen to it. Listen to it. I
won't be much longer but I do want to make sure I cover these
few points because this framework is critical to when our Lord
goes to talking directly to the churches. You're going to remember
some of this stuff. Grotesque imagery. This is the
stuff that had me scared to death the first time I read the book
of Revelation without guidance. I Was 18 years old Listening
to these clowns talking about the Lord coming in a few days
and if I'm not careful, I'll be left behind You better hurry
up and get right with God this was 700 years ago now and Teenager
right just just trying to get a handle and I thought I better
read that book that I didn't want to read You know, I'm so
glad the book of the Revelation is at the end of the book Right
because you got to get ready for that thing because that thing
is all over the place, right? You get dragons and fire and
tails and pits Stuff is not easy for an 18 year old brother. I
And so I started reading it, man, and I'm like, man, what
in the world is going on here? By the time I got to the eighth
chapter, man, I was depressed. Revelation chapter nine, verse
one, two, and three. I need to touch on this briefly.
And the fifth angel sounded and I saw a star fall from heaven
onto the earth. Do you see that? And to him was given the key
of the bottomless pit. He opened the bottomless pit
and there rose smoke out of the pit. as the smoke of a great
furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened." Do you see
that? By reason of the smoke of the pit. Now we have a collage
of images describing for us the darkness of the land, right?
There's an eclipse that was a direct response of hell being opened
up and a horde of demons coming out of the pit. You guys see
that? That means that the number of these hordes of demons are
so massive that it darkens the sky. The metaphor is that people
are walking in darkness. Are you hearing me? Now listen
to what he says, And there came out of the smoke locusts upon
the earth, and unto them was given power as the scorpions
of the earth. Now ladies and gentlemen, immediately we are
taken back to what we call the exodus and wilderness motif.
the Exodus and wilderness motif. It was in the Exodus account
that we are dealing with locusts. Is that not right? It's in the
wilderness account that we're dealing with scorpions. Is that
not right? Because we are dealing with that Old Testament model
of God delivering his people out of Egypt, bringing them through
the wilderness to bring them into glory land. You and I are
the New Testament wilderness church. Israel was the Old Testament
wilderness church according to Acts chapter 7 verse 38. For
those who would like to argue, there was no church in the Old
Testament. Stephan said the church in the wilderness under whose
authority Moses was to govern. So we read about these locusts
and we read about these scorpions and listen, and it was commanded
that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any
green thing, neither any tree. Why? Because we're not dealing
with literal things now. Literal locusts eat literal grass. Are you hearing me? We're dealing
with spiritual things here. And so he goes on, you got that
sis? So he goes on to say, but do not touch those men. I mean,
here it is. But only those men which have
not the seal of God in their forehead. That's cold. You know
what that means? God has decreed a judgment on
men who are not sealed. The ceiling is back in chapter
7 and all of God's elect are sealed by the Holy Ghost and
being sealed by the Holy Ghost We are preserved from the destruction
that comes out of this pit that is represented by locusts and
scorpions Are you guys following me? God's elect are preserved
from the destruction that comes out of this pit which is Represented
by locusts and scorpions and I want you to follow this now.
It was a command you can destroy everyone else but not these This
again is your Neo-Ezekiel prophecy of Ezekiel chapter 9, where God
decreed, put a mark on the forehead of every one of my children.
And when you go forth to destroy, leave them alone. Isn't that
good? This is why you ought to love
him. Because if it wasn't for his grace, you'd have no grounds
not to be destroyed by the darkness of this present culture. And
I'm getting ready to make it plain what this is. Listen to
it now. Listen to it now. And then it
was given that they should not kill them. That's cold. But that
they should be what? Five months. And their torment
was as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes them. In other
words, the nature of this judgment is that it should wreak havoc
upon humanity because of its idolatrous rebellion against
God and its persecution against the church. God is responding
to this world. I've told you before if you're
following me, there are three aspects of God's judgment. His
decree is a judgment. When God declares his word, it's
a judgment. God's word is judgment. When
he says the wages of sin is death, that's a judgment. And when you
and I reject that, then he acts passively to back away from you
and leave you exposed to the hell that's ready to swallow
you up. That's a passive judgment of
God. That's Romans chapter one. Are you guys hearing me? Okay,
if you don't want to bow to the truth, the living God, he will
move out of the way and allow you to succumb to all of the
dark forces of this world system. And the dark forces of this world
system has no love for you. It only seeks to kill, steal
and destroy and bring about torment to yourself. This is how you
know you're not under the blessing of the gospel. You're tormented.
Am I making some sense? You're tormented under the judgment
that God pours out in this world when he gives men and women over.
Parodidomi, he gave them over to uncleanness. Parodidomi, he
gave them over to vile affections. Parodidomi, he gave them over
to the lust of their flesh. That's a passive judgment of
God where you go from one authority to another. He lets you go. How
many of you know that God has to keep you? Keep you. keep you now unto him who is
able to keep you from falling and to present you spotless before
the presence of his glory to the only wise God be glory and
dominion and power forever I know you think you keep yourself no
you don't and you're under probation you're under probation because
God will deal with you for a season as we're going to learn about
that false prophetess Jezebel and then he will give you up
To show you, you can't play with a sovereign God. And this is
why nations end up under the wrath of God as it is today.
You wonder how a nation goes from preaching the gospel to
embracing policies that are so vile and wicked that we can't
even mention them. God gives them up. Are you hearing
me? God gives them up. He'll give
you up. Now listen to it. Verse 6, and
in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it. and death shall flee from them."
Isn't that wild? Do you understand what that's
talking about? No. No, you don't. I'm going to let you come back. You don't understand what that's
talking about. I know the movie's good now, but you don't understand
what it's talking about. Work it through. It's talking
about wanting to be saved, but you can't. Because to be saved requires
a death. And when the gospel is no longer
preached, there is no vicarious death by which men can enter
into to be saved from their sins. All they are left to is the life
of death, which is a torment until they meet God in judgment. Are you hearing me? Seek the
Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him call upon the Lord right now while you can. Because there's
a day that comes when you can't. We bury people whose hearts are
hardened and they can't ask for mercy. Listen to the language. And the shapes of the locusts
were like horses prepared unto what? This is a war. This is
a battle. This is a battle? And then you
have your literal interpreters like your premillennial dispensations
want to call these helicopters. In the world, isn't that crazy? Helicopters. Helicopters. F-15 fighters and nuclear arsenals. This is John Hagee and the rest
of those clowns. Do you understand this book is talking spiritual
warfare, spiritual battles? Let me help you understand who
this is describing. He says, and these locusts, which
were like horses prepared to battle, and on their heads were,
as it were, crowns. Do you see that? Crowns means
authority, like gold. And their authority appears to
be from God. We wear golden crowns. And their
faces were, as it were, the faces of what? And that represents
leadership in the church. These locusts are false prophets. Listen to the language. They're prepared to battle. They
wear crowns as if they possess authority. The crowns are like
gold that their authority is given to them by God. And their
faces are like the faces of men. But they have the hair of women.
That's just like my 21st century era. That makes all the sense
in the world to me. Now this is conflated imagery
again, because the hair represents the submission of a woman to
the rule of her man. 1 Corinthians 11. Is that true? So these are some sissies here,
aren't they? So let me help you. What these locusts are, are demonically
influenced persons who eat up my people like grass. And these demonic people are
false prophets and false prophetesses who pretend to be the church
of the living God. The hair represents submission,
1 Corinthians chapter 11. Are you hearing me? It represents
submission. So in the conglomerate of their
whole apparatus, they appear to be serving God. Serving God. But in fact of matter, they are
a judgment against the church and the world. Wherever false
prophets and false prophetesses and false teachers emerge, it's
God's judgment on the world. Listen to it. And they had hair
as a woman, and their teeth was as the teeth of what? Now, ladies
and gentlemen, there is a lion that goes about, and his teeth
are sharp, and his goal is to destroy. Are you hearing me? But these also are mimicking
those who serve Christ, because Christ is the lion of the tribe
of Judah. But no marvel, because Satan's
emissaries also are transformed into servants of righteousness.
This is why hundreds of thousands of people are deceived by these
false prophets every day. Because the sun is darkened.
There is no revelation of Christ. The sky is blackened. And men
and women who have no discernment cannot distinguish between the
false prophets with their false lies and their falsehoods and
their error from the truth. Because you're blinded to the
glory of God. Son of righteousness with healing
in his wing listen to what verse 9 said and they have breastplates
as It were breastplates of righteousness. No iron See every true believer
possesses a breast breastplate of what? That's right. The imputed
righteousness of Christ the imparted righteousness of the Holy Ghost
by which in union with Christ We stand in battle against everything
that does not honor God there's his iron because they're all
about killing and They are vacuous of righteousness. Stay with me
now. And. The sound of their wings
was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to what
the revelation is emphasizing the battle. Here's my here's
my last point of which I'm going to drive home the interpretation
just in case you don't believe me. And they had tails. Like
under what? And there were things in their
tail. and their powers to hurt men
five months, second time five months is used. We know that
the five months corresponds to the days of the flood of Noah
where God destroyed the masses of men in Noah's days for five
months. And it describes here a metaphor
of universal destruction on the part of false prophets and false
teachers during this time of what we call mass apostasy of
which you and I are in. Isaiah chapter 9 verse 15. Isaiah
9 15 I taught us this years ago Here it is the ancient and the
honorable. He's the what? These are the
rulers in Israel The false prophet that teaches lies. He is what?
The tale of these folks are the lies of false prophets and false
teachers Stinging men and women all over the world who buy into
false doctrine and false teaching. Are you hearing me? I false doctrine,
false teaching, the lies that you hear in the pulpits of churches
every day that do not exalt God, do not exalt Christ, do not preach
the gospel, make you feel good, denying the atoning work of Christ,
the sovereignty of his rule, the exclusivity of his gospel,
the necessity of grace, the reality of your sin-bound state, your
hell-bound state, your need of a savior. You don't hear this
preached. And men are deceived because the sun is blackened.
I'm making some sense. Am I making some sense? My last
two points in our outline, I'm going to close it quickly. The
theme is worship and warfare. Do you believe that? The book
of revelation is about worship revelation 5 11 through 13 and
it's about warfare the saints being persecuted revelation 12
7 13 through 19 the whole of chapters 13 through 19 is warfare
and we just saw in revelation 19 11 jesus coming back on a
white horse right to do what rescue us and finally the promise
that he is already coming go back to chapter 1 i'm going to
close here way overdue revelation chapter Listen to what he says. This is a comfort to those of
us who are like John describes in Revelation chapter 1 around
verse 9 and 10. I am a companion in tribulation
and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ. But listen to
what we read here over in verse 7. Behold, he comes. Do you see it? Behold, he comes
with clouds and every eye shall see him. And they also which
pierced him and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because
of him see when he comes a second time All of this mamby-pamby
stuff is over with If you listen to the text it describes a really
woeful time So woeful even the church is going to be apprehended
by his coming So well see all this shouting and jumping and
hallelujah and clowning and acting a fool It only indicates we don't
sense his holiness Listen when he rents the veil and comes back
a whole lot of people won't make it There are four ways in which
Christ comes I'm done four ways He comes through the scriptures
Lo I come in the volume of the book is written to me to do thy
will you saw him today You're accountable He comes in the power
of the gospel when he is preached by the Spirit of God in the hearts
of men. He penetrates the heart. He commands
the light, the Father, to shine out of darkness, to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. Maybe one or two of you today have been saved. Maybe
your life has been changed. Maybe you have seen the glory
of God in a different way, and you won't be the same if God
saves you. He comes in the preaching of
the gospel. This is why we must preach the gospel. The third
way he comes is in the providential affairs of life. When you become
a Christian, you become keenly aware that God is in all your
business. He comes constantly, constantly opening doors, shutting
doors, putting up restraints, hindering you, giving you permission
to do this, stopping you on this, hedging you in, shutting you
up, disciplining you, affirming you, confirming you, growing
you, maturing you, using you. God's coming all the time. Erkomai
is the term. The last one is the Greek word
parousia, in which he will come in a visible, demonstrative fashion
as king of kings and lord of lords, as the word is used in
the first century of a monarch or a prince or a ruler who will
come with his entourage. And when he comes, won't nobody
have to ask the question, is Jesus showing up? He hasn't come
yet. Because when he comes, you will
know it. Are you hearing me? But he does come in the scriptures. He does come by the preaching
of the gospel. Did he come for you today? Did
he come for you today? And I hope he came in power to
change some of your lives, because I want you to understand something
now. I want you to understand something now. To whom much is
given, much is required.