Are you frightened or
misled about the future? You can know for sure what will happen in the
future from the Book of Revelation and you won't be misled, terrified or
frightened. If you read and heed, living accordingly, you
will be blessed. (cf notes
Revelation 1:3) The time is near, even though
Revelation was written in 95A.D. The time of waiting may soon be over.
This is the revelation that God gave to Jesus Who in turn gave it to an
angel, who in turn gave it to His bond-servant John who wrote it down for
us, His bondservants, so that we can know the things that will shortly
come to pass.
Revelation
is the Greek word
apokalupsis
(see word study) meaning to unveil, to
take away the cover so that one can see something more clearly. Note that
the book of "The Revelation" is not just an unveiling of Jesus Christ but
of those things that precede His Coming and follow the Coming of Jesus
Christ. Most people think that the Revelation equates with the revealing
of the Coming of Jesus Christ, but it is far more, for it uncovers the
events that precede and that follow His Second Coming. So many are misled because
they do not understand what His Word says about the events that precede
the Second Coming of Christ. Some are misled even to the point of taking
their lives. In Revelation, Jesus is the "Revealer" rather than the
"Revealed". Jesus is taking the veil off the events that
precede and follow His Second Coming...
In
Rev 1:19 (note) Jesus is speaking and gives us
the outline of the book of Revelation
In
Revelation 2-3 Jesus speaks to the churches.
In
Revelation 5 Jesus is the One
Worthy to open the scroll.
In
Revelation 6 the Lamb breaks the seals. In each of
these scenes Jesus is Revealing.
In
Revelation 8 Jesus breaks the 7th seal.
In
Revelation 21 there is an Unveiling (see
note
Revelation 21:5).
Revelation 22:7 (note)
again refers to
Jesus' Revealing as does
Revelation 22:12 (note) where He describes rewards.
Revelation 22:20 (note)
refers again to His coming (quickly).
In
Revelation 1:1 (note) we find the
Greek phrase Ha dei genesthai which means the things
that must take place. The word shortly is not in the original manuscript.
In
Revelation 4:1 (note) we again
find the phrase what must take place
which is the identical
Greek phrase found in
Revelation 1:1 (note).
In
Revelation 22:6 (note) we see the same phrase (which
must shortly take place) with the addition of the word shortly
which is the Greek phrase "en tachei".
So these verses
describe the Unveiling as Jesus explains the events that will come to
pass, so that we don't need to be frightened or misled.
Revelation 1:19 after these things
which is the Greek phrase "ha mellei genesthai".
These are things that will take place and which will bring in His
Kingdom.
In
Rev 2:25-28
until
the end is a very important phrase.
Jesus Himself declares that you dearly beloved will rule
over a kingdom with Christ! Refer to the parables (cf.,
Luke 19:11-27;Mt
25:14-30) which teach that those who are more faithful will rule over more
cities than those who are not as faithful.
So this is a call for us to overcome (compare
1Jn 5:4,
5:5 with
Revelation 2:7,
2:11,
2:17,
2:26,
3:5,
3:12,
3:21,
21:7) and to keep His deeds until the end (Revelation
2:26 [note]). We are called to
take up our Cross, remembering that a Crown is coming. Hold fast until He comes (see
note
Revelation 2:25)!
Revelation 11:15
And the
seventh angel sounded; and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, "The
kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His
Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.
And the faithful will rule with Him.
Revelation 20:4
And I saw thrones,
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the
souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus
and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast
or his image, and had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon
their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a
thousand years
The
Testimony of Jesus is the book of Revelation!
REVELATION HAS IT'S ROOTS IN THE OT
Go to
Daniel 2
(Ed note: Kay states that her goal in this course is to help us
understand in every last detail what Jesus Christ is saying in the
Revelation so that we will have a plumb line with which we will be able to
check out all that we hear and assess it according to what the Revelation
teaches. It will take work but as you go through the book of Revelation,
you will truly know this book).
In
Daniel 2 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream and threatens to kill all the wise men
because they cannot reveal his dream (Da
2:5). (the date of this prophecy is about 605-603 BC)
Daniel 2:20-22 (Which is Daniel's response to God answering his
prayer and revealing the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream)
Daniel answered and said, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and
ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. And it is He who changes the
times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives
wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who
reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness,
and the light dwells with Him.
Daniel 2:28 (Daniel in his explanation to Nebuchadnezzar as to
how he is able to interpret the dream declares that)
there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to
King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your
dream and the visions in your mind while on your bed.
In the vision the Stone strikes the
great statute on the feet and the
interpretation is given in
Daniel 2:40-43
Then
there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes
and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it (the
Stone)
will crush and break all these in pieces. And
in that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of
iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness
of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. And as
the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of
the kingdom will be strong and part of it will be brittle. And in that
you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one
another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even
as iron does not combine with pottery." (Remember that this interpretation
refers to the time period of the days of the 'ten
toes) And in the days
of those kings (the ten toes = ten kings) the God of heaven will set up
a kingdom which will never be destroyed and that kingdom (the Kingdom
which God sets up) will not be left for another people; it will crush and
put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.
When you do your homework, watch for the fulfillment of this prophecy in
Revelation.
The book of the Revelation describes the things that are absolutely going
to happen because God said so and each kingdom portrayed in
Nebuchadnezzar's dream has come to pass except the ten toes which is yet future.
In
Daniel 3 Nebuchadnezzar tried
to thwart God's plan and to keep his earthly kingdom together but God
showed him that He alone rules as Nebuchadnezzar eventually testifies,
declaring that God ''is able to humble those who walk in pride."
(Da 4:37) So in the
final kingdom, Jesus is the King and the saints rule with Him.
Now go to Matthew 24:6 (Jesus is speaking to His disciples in the
"Olivet Discourse")
And you will be hearing of wars and
rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet
the end. (Mt 24:6)
The context of this verse is that in Matthew 24 Jesus is leaving the magnificent buildings
on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem and His disciples are pointing out the
splendor of these edifices (Mt 24:1). Jesus replies that all
these buildings will be torn down
much to the dismay of His disciples (Mt 24:2). Thus the disciples ask
when would
these events occur and what would be the 'Sign of Your
coming'? (Mt 24:3)
Rev 1:8
clearly states He is indeed coming. In
Revelation 19:11ff Christ's Coming is
described in detail, and refers again to the ''rod of iron'' (Revelation
19:15 [note]) mentioned in
Rev 2:27 (note). The Revelation then gives us the details of the SIGN OF HIS COMING
& of THE END OF THE AGE. So once again the Revelation is an UNVEILING of
those things that must SHORTLY COME TO PASS.
The events will take place SHORTLY
and some scholars believe this phrase refers to SOON in time
or RAPIDLY once it begins.
Those who knew the Old Testament
knew about the Messiah's coming, including even the Second Coming (because
they knew that His Coming would bring in His kingdom rule and that this
event was not fulfilled in His first Coming). You and I need to know the events
leading up to and following the Second Coming. As we do, we will develop a
burden to compel others to come into His Kingdom. We will live as lights
in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation and will hold forth the
word of life (see notes
Philippians 2:14;
2:15;
2:16)
without shame because we know the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (see
notes
Romans 1:16),
and that this salvation is not just salvation from the penalty of sins but
is salvation day by day (Ed note: sanctification) for it provides the
power to keep us
from sinning and finally the power to take us to heaven.
Now go to Luke 21 which is the parallel chapter of
Matthew 24 &
Mark 13, all
three taking place in the last week of Jesus' life. If you are in your last week of life and know it, you want
to tell everything that's truly important!
In
Luke 21:6-7 Jesus is telling the
disciples that the Temple is going to be destroyed and they ask Him when
these things are about to take place (same phrase
in
Rev 1:19). In (Luke 21:8)
Jesus responded by warning them not to be misled for many would come in
His name saying (1) I am (the Messiah) and (2) the time is at hand. Jesus warned them not to "go after
them."
In
Luke 21:9 Jesus added that
when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not
be terrified; for these things must take place first, but THE END (which
is the same time as when the
Stone crushes all the other kingdoms in
Daniel 2) does not follow
immediately. Then He continued by saying to them, "Nation will
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be
great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines; and there
will be terrors and great signs from heaven. BUT BEFORE all these things, (great earthquakes, plagues and
famines, etc) they will lay their
hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and
prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My Name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your
minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves...." (Luke 21:9-14)
(Ed note: In the middle of Jesus'
prophesy concerning the end, Jesus gives a specific
prophecy about Jerusalem in verses 20-24 which was fulfilled in 70 ad.)
Luke 21:20-24
But when you
see JERUSALEM surrounded by armies, then recognize that her desolation is
at hand. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains and
let those who are in the midst of the city depart, and let not those who
are in the country enter the city; because these are days of vengeance,
in order that all things which are written MAY BE FULFILLED. Woe to
those who are with child and to those who nurse babes in those days; for
there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to THIS PEOPLE,
(the Jews) and they will fall by the edge of the sword, and will be led
captive into all the nations; and JERUSALEM will be trampled under foot by
the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (see
Timeline)" (Compare
Revelation 11:2 "And leave out the
court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been
given to the nations (the Gentiles); and they will tread under
foot the holy city for forty-two months.'')
What Jesus is prophesying about
in
Luke 21:20-24 is the destruction of
Jerusalem that occurred in 70 ad.
Jesus goes on
to add that
there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth dismay
among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men
fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon
the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they
will see the
Son of Man
coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up
and lift up your heads, because
your redemption is drawing near."
(Luke 21:25-28)
The study
of the REVELATION will help you lift up your head!
Luke 21:34-35
Be
on guard (present
imperative - make
this the habit of your life) that your hearts may not be weighted down
with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day
come on you suddenly like a trap, for it will come upon all those who
dwell on the face of all the earth.
Do your homework (Ed note:
referring to Precept Upon Precept course
Revelation - Part 2) and you will
come to know THE THINGS WHICH MUST SHORTLY TAKE PLACE and you will be able to
hold fast until the end. Daniel used the term in the latter
days. In Matthew 24 (and Luke 21) Jesus said it is not yet the end.
In Revelation the angel told John
Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this
book, for the time is near. (Revelation
22:9).
It will soon take place because
a day with the Lord is as a thousand years and thousand years as one
day. (see note
2 Peter 3:8,
Ps 90:4).
THERE IS NOT MUCH TIME LEFT
When you see
these things come to pass,
you will know that your redemption is drawing
nigh.
Prayer:
Father, we bow before You and thank You for Your word, that You have
not left Your people in the dark, but that You reveal to us the
things that are going to happen before they take place. That is the
birthright, the gift, that You give Your bondservants so that they
are never caught unaware. So if we are caught unaware, if we are
frightened, if we are misled, it is our fault because we haven't
exerted ourselves, we haven't disciplined ourselves to study, to
show ourselves approved unto You, workmen that need not be ashamed,
handling accurately the Word of truth. (cf
note
2 Timothy 2:15) Father, we thank You
for the Revelation of Jesus Christ You gave to Him to show to us,
Your bondservants, the things that will shortly take place. Father,
thank You and may we honor what You have give us by studying it. In
Your name. Amen.
