The Eternal Gospel

Revelation 14:1-20

Welcome! Today we continue our series on the book of Revelation. To put today’s passage in context, here is a summary of where we have been. Chapter 1 contains a vision of Christ moving among His church, His body, His followers. Chapters 2 and 3 consists of personal letters to particular churches, pointing out both weaknesses and strengths, and giving warnings and encouragements. Chapters 4 and 5 shift the scene to God’s throne in heaven, with countless worshipers around the throne, and at the center, the Lamb, who alone is worthy to open the seals of a special scroll. Chapter 6 describes the opening of 6 of 7 seals on this scroll; accompanying each are judgments of God.

The opening of Chapter 7 is particularly relevant to today’s passage, so I want to present that to you now.

Man's Number

Revelation 13:2-18

Good morning everyone!  We’ll continue today with our series on the book of Revelation.  Two weeks ago, Fred brought us to the midpoint of the book, and we heard the last of seven trumpets sound.  This sounding initiated worship in heaven rejoicing that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and Christ and He will reign forever and ever.  (Revelation 11:15)  It was a victorious sound.

Let’s pray:

Lord God, thank You that You reign forever and ever.  Thank You that the kingdom of the world will become Your kingdom and you will set things right.  I pray that You will open our hearts and our minds to hear and apply Your Word in our lives.  Grow us up, I pray.  May we all walk with You in boldness and faith.  May we patiently endure and faithfully love you amidst the trials that we face.  Guide our time, we pray.  Amen.

The Dragon

Revelation 12:1-:13:1

Welcome! Today we will continue our series in Revelation, focusing on Chapter 12. Due to the amount of content here and limited time, I want to give only the briefest of overviews in terms of where we are in Revelation. We have had seven letters for seven churches, pointing out their strengths and weaknesses and giving them instructions in how to respond. We have been presented a special scroll that no one is worthy to open, except the Lamb of God, Christ. We have seen seven seals opened, one after another, with increasing signs and tribulations on the people in the vision. We have seen seven trumpets blown by angels, each also accompanied by judgments against the people, who despite all this, continue to remain unrepentant. There are seven thunders, but we don’t get to see these; they remain “sealed up.” Interspersed with these events are other events and images, including several scenes of multitudes worshiping at the throne of God, a scene of the sealing up of the 144,000, protecting them from what is to come, and a scene of two witnesses who will prophecy for 1260 days against the unrepentant people, be killed, and come back to life. At the end of chapter 11, it is announced that it is time, finally, for judgment of the unrepentant, for rewarding those who followed after Christ, and “for destroying those who destroy the earth.” And then God’s temple in heaven was opened and the Ark of the Covenant could be seen.

Kingdom Come

Revelation 11:15-19

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever.”—Revelation 11:15 (NIV)

In John chapter 18 verse 36, when Jesus answered Pontius Pilot concerning Him being a king, He said “My kingdom is not of this world.  If my kingdom were of this world, then my servants would be fighting, that I not be delivered up to the Jews but as it is My Kingdom is not of this realm.” (NASB)

Sweet Turning Sour

Revelation 10:1-11:14

Good morning!  We’re closing in on the midpoint of the book of Revelation.  Before we get into today’s passage, I’d like to keep with the pattern of giving a short recap of where we’ve been over the past weeks.  I don’t know about you, but I find myself struggling a bit to keep things in order in my mind.  There are a lot of seals and trumpets and bowls and things going on.

Let’s look at a power point slide with a graphical display of the chapters.  The first glance is as series of blocks which correspond to each chapter of the book.  There are 22 chapters in Revelation.

Unrepentant

Revelation 9

Welcome! This past week the small fall break team from NC State was here. Their visit was brief, but they spent a day on campus doing surveys and sharing the gospel with all who would listen, with all who were curious; we estimate that the gospel was shared between 10 and 15 times, and seeds of Christian thought were planted in other cases as well. We used a custom survey this time, and the results were interesting. I thought you might want to hear the questions.

1. Of the following, which gives you the greatest fear? (a) Ebola (b) Terrorism (c) Economic collapse (d) Solar storm (e) Manmade environmental disaster (f) Natural disaster (g) Other

Blasts

Revelation 8

Let’s review where we have come from so far in Revelation. This book starts out with John’s vision of Jesus, who gives him the seven letters for the seven churches. Then we have the vision of the throne in heaven, attended by the four living creatures and the 24 elders offering worship and praise. Then we have the scroll with seven seals, which only the Lamb is able to open. And we have the worship of the Lamb by every creature in heaven and on earth. As the Lamb opens the first four seals four horsemen are summoned by the four living creatures: a white one representing conquest, a red one for war, a black one for famine, and a pale one carrying Death, followed by Hades (or hell) and given power over a fourth of the earth, to kill by violence, starvation, disease, and attacks by wild animals. So we have a picture of all the bad things happening on earth, down through history, under the control of Almighty God.

Made White With Blood

Revelation 7

So, where are we at this point in the story?  In Revelation 1-3, John has a vision of Jesus.  Then we read about the letters that were to be sent to the seven churches.  Then John shares another vision in Revelation 4:1 which says, “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, ‘Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.’”  

Whereas the first 3 chapters talk about something in the present during John’s time, he seems to switch his focus to some future time.  “The voice” told him that something would take place “after this.”  We don’t really know how far in the future he’s talking about yet.  We just know that God is about to share prophecy about some future events.  In Revelation 4, God gives us a picture of what worship is like or what it will be like in heaven. 

Who is Worthy?

Revelation 4:1-5:14

Welcome! Today we continue our series in the Book of Revelation. I want to start by looking at the big picture of what we have seen so far. In Chapter 1, we begin with brief prologue, a statement that this book is a revelation, a revealing, an unveiling from Jesus Himself, given by His angel or messenger to His servant John, and it says that all who hear this message and take it to heart will be blessed. The book then opens with a greeting from John to the seven churches in the province of Asia. John states a greeting not only from John himself, but also from God; he then praises God and quotes Him as the Alpha and Omega.

John then explains that he was on the island on Patmos when he was “in the Spirit,” and a messenger with a voice like a trumpet told him to write down what he would see and send it to the seven churches. John was then given a vision of seven golden lampstands, representing the churches, and Christ among them, awesome in appearance, glowing, afire, holding seven stars in his right hand, with a sword coming from his mouth. Jesus in this vision identifies Himself and instructs John to write what he has seen, what is now, and what will take place later. Bible interpreters and commentators wrestle over what this means, trying to decide if parts of the vision refer to the past, even John’s past, part to the present, and part to the future, but I think this is not the plainest meaning of what is going on. Perhaps all Jesus meant is that John was to write down his initial vision, that of the messenger, then this vision, and then the vision or visions that would follow.

...Let Him Hear

Revelation 3:1-22

Good morning!  We’re going to continue today on the series in Revelation.  I have to confess that am still a little bit in shock that we’re actually doing a series on Revelation.  Carl had said enough times in the past that he wouldn’t choose to do a series on Revelation.  In March, when he read through the whole book of Revelation in a single morning, he said it might happen, that the Lord was opening that door as it were.  Then, we put it on the schedule, but I still didn’t really think about it.  We announced it to the church.  It seemed more certain, but it hadn’t happened yet.  Then, two weeks ago Carl opened the series.  Then, it should have hit me right?  We’re really doing it now.

But for me, it wasn’t until I sat down and started preparing this message that a wave of shock came over me again.  We’re really going to do it.  We’re going to do a series on the entire book of Revelation.  We’re not going to pick and choose.  We’re not going to skip over stuff.  We’re going to go through every verse in the book.

It is such a good thing for us to do.  As Carl already shared that first week, “Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”  (Revelation 1:3)